m^^mis^0i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



UMTED STATES OF A^TERICA. 




Late Vicar Aposmticat 



FETICHISM 

AND 

FETICH ^^ORSHIPERS. 

By 

Rev. P/BAUDIN, 

Missionary on the Slave Coast of Africa. 




A HUMAN SACKIFICE TO UGUN, THE GOD OK WAR (SLAVE COAST). 

Sold for the benefit of the Society of African Missions, {Lijons) France. 

TRANSLATED BV MISS M. McMAHON. 

NKW YORK, CINCINNATI, AND ST. l.OUIS : 

riUNTKUS TO TllK lIDl.V Al'OSTOLlC SKIC. 

/v 



^^i'' 



Copyright, 1885, ey Rev. F. MERLINI. 



PREFACE. 



The painful but necessary task which has been imposed 
upon us of appealing to the generous Catholics of this 
country in behalf of the Society of the African Missions 
has decided us to offer to the public the English transla- 
tion of the book '' Fetichism and Fetich-Worshippers," 
which is an account of twelve years' experience among 
these people. It is an interesting study of the worship of 
countless black tribes who inhabit Equatorial Africa. 
The various rites and ceremonies, including human sacri- 
fices, still prevailing among the blacks are fully described, 
showing how human nature is degraded in these coun- 
tries by a singular mixture of materialism and spiritual- 
ism. It treats also in a graphic manner of the trials and 
triumphs of the Catholic Church in these fever-breeding 
climates, where the zealous priest finds his tomb after 
three or four years of missionary labor, and often in a 
shorter time. We are convinced that the book will be 
well received, from the fact that it has alread}^ attracted 
the attention of the French clergy because of its connec- 
tion with the study of the existence of God, in which 
respect it may be considered as a corollary of the study 
of theology. We deem it to the purpose to add to this 
study of Fetichism an account of the work already ac- 



4 Preface. 

complished in the missions confided to the care of this 
Society, such as the Slave Coast, the Gold Coast, the 
Kingdom of Dahomey, where every year hundreds of 
human victims are sacrificed to false divinities, along the 
Niger, and in Egypt, which country has lately been so 
ravaged by the terrible scourges of war, pestilence, and 
persecution. 

Christian charity requiring us to share with our fellov>^- 
man the goods which the bounty of God has bestowed 
upon us, we trust that the prayers and contributions of 
the reader will come to our assistance. 

Rev. F. Merlini, African Missionary, 

House of the Immaculate Virgin, 
Lafayette Place, 

New York City, N. Y. (P. O. Box 3512.) 



PART FIRST. 

FETICHISM; 

OR, 

THE RELIGION OF THE NEGROES OF GUINEA. 



In the mi»dst of the explorations and scientific expedi- 
tions which have gradually robbed Africa of her mysteries, 
fetichism has guarded its own. Up to the present time, 
this word has awakened in Europe only a very vague 
idea of the adoration of animal matter, and a sentiment of 
profound pity for the unfortunate black fetich-worship- 
pers. We grant that appearances favor these sentiments. 
The European on arriving in Guinea encounters at every 
step in the negro villages idols of wood or clay, as gro- 
tesque as they are unclean, rudely made, and daubed with 
cock's blood and palm-oil by their stupid adorers. One 
glance suffices to fill the European with contempt for this 
worship ; but when he soon learns that these shapeless 
divinities thirst for human blood, and that human victims 
are immolated to appease them, immediately adding 
mdignation to contempt he execrates fetiches and fetich- 
worshippers, considering them thereafter unworthy his 
attention. This explains the imperfect, even false idea 
that prevails concerning fetichism. What is called 
fetichism is but the material covering; but if bv the aid 
of profound study we are enabled to read through this 
veil, fetichism appears very different, and we are aston- 



6 Fetichism, 

ished to discover under this coarse and repellent exterior 
a chain of doctrines and a complete religious system, of 
which spiritualism forms the greater part. And what is 
quite remarkable, these doctrines offer striking analogies 
to the paganism of the civilized nations of antiquity. Re- 
place these rudely-fashioned statues by the masterpieces 
of Greek art, these poor fetich-huts by Roman and 
Athenian temples, and under these different forms, but 
with identically the same attributes, fetichism will call 
up before the mind Neptune, Mars, Mercury, Vulcan, 
-^sculapius, Apollo, and other gods and demi-gods or 
genii which are met with in the study of pagan antiqui- 
ties. 

Whilst savants take such infinite pains in the study of 
these ancient worships, in deciphering from hieroglyphics 
the mysteries of bull Apis, or to discover at great expense 
beneath ruins some vestige of the forgotten divinities of 
the Babylonians, it seems as though it might not be unin- 
teresting to explore the mysteries of fetichism which is 
really so near to us, and which is also the religion of mil- 
lions of human beings. Fetichism in fact shares with 
Mahometanism all Equatorial Africa. It is the religion of 
the innumerable black tribes which inhabit Guinea, the 
Gold Coast, Ashanti, Slave Coast, Dahomey, Yorouba, 
Benin, and the shores of the Niger and Benue. On the 
north it extends to Timbuctoo, on the east to Lake 
Tchad, and on the south as far as Gabon and to the 
Congo. Among these black tribes the religious and 
political systems, the ceremonies of worship, and the 
domestic customs are so intimately connected one with 
the other that a knowledge of their religion is indispen- 
sable to the understanding of their history and their 
national organization, and above all to the effectual work 
of their evangelization. 

Their traditions and religious doctrines suggest a peo- 
ple more civihzed than the blacks of Guinea of the 
present day. And on the other hand, many customs, 



Fetichisni. 7 

usages, and industries show clearly that they are a people 
in decadence. The wars, particularly the civil wars, 
which have laid waste, and still continue to lay waste, 
these countries, have caused them to lose what they had 
preserved of this ancient civilization, which was in great 
part Egyptian, as indicated by many customs and usages. 

Their mythological system, at present very incomplete, 
contains many vague points and many small details diffi- 
cult to reconcile ; but the essential points are generally 
pretty well fixed in the minds of the blacks by the 
chants, the usages, the figures, and the symbols of the 
divinities placed in their temples, their own dwellings, 
and even engraved on the doors and columns of the 
houses of the chiefs and on the fetich-huts. 

Therefore, though scattered over an immense extent of 
country, these fetich-worshippers have a certain uniform- 
ity of religious belief ; their divinities are identical, differ- 
ing onl}^ in name ; and the particular details which we 
give of the blacks of the Slave Coast of Yorouba, 
Dahomey, Benin, and other neighboring kingdoms apply 
to all the fetich-worshipping nations. 




Fetichism. 



FETICHISM. 

(The Religious System of the Negroes of Guinea.) 

The religion of the blacks is an odd mixture of monothe- 
ism, polytheism, and idolatry. In these religious systems 
the idea of a god is fundamental ; they beheve in the exist- 
ence of a supreme primordial being, the lord of the uni- 
verse, which is his work. Monotheism recognizes at the 
same time numbers of inferior gods and subordinate god- 
desses. Each element has its divinity, who is as it were 
incorporated in it, who animates and governs it, and is the 
object of adoration. Everything in nature forms a vast 
scale of deification. After the gods and goddesses there 
are infinite numbers of good and evil genii ; then comes the 
worship of heroes and great men who were distinguished 
during their lives. The blacks also worship the dead, and 
believe in metempsychosis, or the migration of souls into 
other bodies. They believe in the existence of an Olym- 
pus, where dwell the gods and celebrated men who have 
become fetiches, and in an inferior world, the sojourn of the 
dead, and finally in a state of punishment for great crimi- 
nals. They have also their metamorphosis, their sacred 
animals, their temples and their idols, etc. In a word, 
their religion is similar in all things to the old polytheism 
of the ancients ; and notwithstanding the abundant testi- 
mony of the existence of God, it is practically only a vast 
pantheism — a participation of all the elements of the divine 
nature, which is as it were diffused throughout them all. 

The following is a more detailed idea of this system. 



lo Fetichism. 



COSMOGONY AND THEOGONY. 

The Idea of God. — Although deeply imbued with poly- 
theism, the blacks have not lost the idea of the true God : 
yet their idea of Him is very confused and obscure. 
Among the numerous gods and goddesses of the black 
pantheon, where all the divinities are allied by androgy- 
nism, or else in divine couples, God alone escapes both 
androgynism and conjugal association; nor have the 
blacks an}^ statue or symbol to represent Him. He is 
considered the supreme primordial being, the author and 
the father of the gods and genii ; they call Him Olorun 
{Ol-i-orun), that is, the possessor, and master of the negro 
heaven or Olympus, the abode of the gods and goddesses. 
A city of the Yorouba bears the name of Bi-Olornn pelu : 
" if God is with us." He is also called OlodiLinard, " The AU- 
Powerful ;" Oga-ogo, " The Most Glorious ;" Elemi, " He 
who possesses the breath of life ;^' Ei?ii, " The master of 
human souls." This name Elemi is incommunicable ; it 
belongs to God alone. The gods, say the blacks, can, like 
Obatala, make bodies, but they cannot animate them ; God 
reserves this power for Himself. 

However, notwithstanding all these notions, the idea 
they have of God is most unworthy of His Divine Maj- 
esty. They represent that God after having commenced 
the organization of the world charged Obatala with the 
completion and government of it, retired and entered into 
an eternal rest, occupying Himself only with His own 
happiness ; too great to interest Himself in the affairs of 
this world, He remains like a negro king, in a sleep of idle- 
ness. 

Thus the blacks render no worship whatever to God, 
completely neglecting Him, to occupy themselves with the 
gods and goddesses and the spirits to whom they believe 
themselves indebted for their birth, and their fate in this 
life and the next. However, although they seem to 



Fetichism, 1 1 

expect nothing from God, the negroes by instinct natu- 
rally address themselves to Him, and invoke Him in 
sudden danger or in great affliction. When they are 
victims of injustice, they take God to witness their inno- 
cence. 

Olorun ri mi : " God sees me." 

Olorim mo pe emi kopuro: '' God knows I do not lie." 

Olorun gbd mi o : ^' O God, save me." 

They also swear by God, and very often in these simple 
words : 

Olorun^ Olorun ! " God, God !" at the same time raising 
their hands to heaven. 

In their salutations and conversations the name of God 
is frequently heard, as in the morning salutation : 

Oji re of " Have you risen well?" to which they gen- 
erally reply : 

A yin Olorun! " God be praised !" 

For the evening salutation they often use these words: 

K' Olorun Mo cho ghogbo wa ! *' Oh ! may God protect us 
all !" 

But if the blacks forget God, they never cease invoking 
the fetiches, to whom they address themselves in all the 
circumstances of life, directly and not as mediators or 
intermediators between God and man. The gods of the 
first rank are sovereign masters in their domain, acting 
according to their pleasure and their own character, and 
effecting immediately evil or good. The secondary gods 
and the genii are often subject to the superior gods, but 
they have also their own domain, where they are con- 
sidered free to act according to their own will. 

The fetiches, from the Portuguese word fcitico, cliarm 
or enchantment, are called in the Nago dialect oricha, a 
word which signifies custom, religious ceremony, usage. 
The Oricha are divided into three very distinct classes : 

1. The superior gods and goddesses. 

2. The inferior gods and goddesses. 

3. The good and evil genii. 



1 2 FetichisTn. 



I. Superior Gods and Goddesses. 

Three principal gods occupy the first place in the 
negro pantheon ; these are Obatala, Odudua, and Ifa. 

I . Obatala. 

The first of the superior gods is Obatala (Oba-ti-ala, " The 
king of whiteness and light"). White is the color conse- 
ci"ated to him, and a white pennant floats above his tem- 
ples, which are always white. His statues, his symbols, 
and the insignia worn by his adorers are also white. 

He is also called Oricha nla, " The great Oricha ;" ala- 
morere, " He who possesses good earth," — for the blacks say 
that it is he who forms the human body in the maternal 
womb, and negresses address themselves to him for the 
happiness of becoming mothers. This belief makes them 
look upon deformed persons, and particularly albinos, 
rather comxmon on the coast of Guinea, as the work of 
Obatala, who thus creates these beings to keep his office 
of demi-creator in the minds of the people. 

He is called, besides, Oricha kpokpo, " The protector of 
the gates of the city ;" in which capacit}^ he is represented 
on horseback, armed with a lance ; also Alabalache, " The 
oracle that predicts the future ;" Oricha oginia^ '' The 
fetich who enters man" : under this name he is celebrated 
among the Nagos. 

At Porto-Novo he is still better known under the name 
oiOnsd. In all doubtful cases the king has recourse to 
him to discover the innocence or guilt of the accused. 
This fetich consists of a large hollow wooden cylinder 
about three feet and a half long, and as large as a man, 
one end of which is closed with snail-shells and the other 
with cloth. The fetich is placed on the head of the ac- 
cused, who kneels and holds it with both hands and with 
all his strength. If the fetich fall forward, the accused is 



Fetichism. 1 3 

declared innocent ; if it fall backward, he is pronounced 
guilty. Strange to say, notwithstanding the efforts of 
the accused, the fetich executes all the movements com- 
manded by the fetich-priest : it sways from one side to the 
other and finally falls, forward or backward when the 
fetich-priest commands him to declare the guilt or inno- 
cence of the accused. Many people think that a child is 
put m the cylinder, and that when the child has served 
several years he is killed and replaced by another. The 
secret is thus preserved, and the king can easily and 
without contest render justice. When Onse has once 
spoken, the case is irrevocably decided. 

Obatala is the greatest of the gods; he is the first of 
the beings that God, the supreme Being, produced in the 
beginning. He placed him with other spirits in the supe- 
rior region of the universe and united him to Odudua, 
who became his spouse. 

2. Odudua. 

Odudua, the great goddess of the blacks, the mother of 
the gods, seems to be considered as never having been 
created, but as eternal and coexistent with God. Odudua, 
who is also called lya Agba, *' The mother who receives," 
dwells in the inferior regions of the universe. 

Obatala and Odudua were in the beginning tightly 
compressed and enclosed in a bottle-gourd, Obatala in 
the lid and Odudua in the bottom of the bottle, engulfed 
in the waters, enveloped in profound darkness, fear and 
hunger pervading every sense ; they were only a restless 
mass, without form or figure, and blind. The fetich- 
priests tell the people that Odudua was made blind and 
ugl}^ in consequence of a domestic quarrel in which Oba- 
tala tore out his companion's eyes to compel her to keep 
quiet. She in her anger cursed him, and said, " Thou 
shalt have snails for thy food." Oloriin o/odoiiinarc^ (" All- 
Powerful God "), be sought byOdudua to restore her sight, 
declared that m punishment she should remain blind, Init 



14 Fetichism. 

that Obatala, for having yielded to anger, should eat 
snails : and in fact this is the principal sacrifice offered by 
the blacks to Obatala. 

Obatala represents all superior things, Odudua all that 
is inferior; Obatala is mind, Odudua is matter; Obatala is 
the firmament, Odudua is the earth, — all of which is sym- 
bolized by a whitened gourd provided with a cover, 
which is placed in the temples. 

Obatala and Odudua, the fetich-priests say, are one and 
the same divinity, an hermaphrodite divinity. This idea is 
represented by a statue which has but one foot and one 
arm, and a tail ending in a ball or globe. 

Obatala and Odudua are met with again under the sir- 
name of Aroni and Aja, only then they have fallen grad- 
ually from the rank of superior gods to the third rank of 
genii or hobgoblins. 

In the temples of the more modern cities Obatala and 
Odudua are completely divested of their hermaphrodite 
characteristics, are divided into two perfectly distinct 
divinities, and are then represented separately : Obatala 
under the form of a warrior, and Odudua as a female 
nursing her infant. However, in the irrespective temples 
the symbolic gourd is generally placed in front of these 
statues, to recall the ancient doctrine. 

In their houses, those who cannot procure a statue con- 
tent themselves with the gourd, before which they offer 
their presents and sacrifices. Still more recently the god 
Obatala and the goddess Odudua have become much 
more separate and distinct, and are not even associated 
conjugalh^ They both inspire equal confidence, take the 
same rank, and are on the same footing in the receipt of 
honors ; their personality is completely distinct, and each 
one has a special temple. Odudua especially, rising al- 
ways in power in the minds of the people, has almost 
entirely lost her character of spouse and has become in- 
dependent; she reigns as sovereign goddess of Ado, a 
modern city situated not far from Badagry. 



Fetichism. 1 7 

The legend relates that a hunter met Odudua one day- 
walking in the forest. The goddess proposed to live 
with him, and they dwelt together for a long time, given 
over to the pleasures of the chase and fishing, and pass- 
ing the rest of the time in a cabin built of boughs at the 
foot of a tree in the forest. Fmally the goddess, dis- 
gusted with a mortal as she had been with an immortal, 
departed, promising that she would always protect him 
and all those wlio would establish themselves in this 
place and erect to her a temple in place of the cabin. 
Many persons came and established themselves here, and 
thus was founded Ado, which means prostitution, in 
memory of the goddess. 

The temple erected in this city is celebrated among the 
blacks ; the neighboring kings offer an ox to the goddess 
on her feast-day, and, in accordance with the legend, im- 
pure games are celebrated in her honor. 

These two gods Obatala and Odudua have other names 
and symbols which for the people constitute different 
gods. This multiplicity of gods is more seeming than 
real, but it is very lucrative for the fetich-priests. 

Dependent Divinities of Obatala and Odudua. 

We have already said that God having created the first 
of beings, Obatala, He united him to Odudua. Shortl}' 
after their union Odudua gave birth to Aganju, a name 
which signifies *' The desert," and to lycmoj'a, "■ The mother 
of fish." lyemoja had by her brother a son Orvngan (" The 
middle of the day," '' the air," "the firmament "). 

Outraged by her son Orungan, lyemoja, inconsolable, 
fied, refusing to listen to the guilty one, who pursued her 
in her flight, begging her to return. As he was about to 
overtake her, lyemoja fell backward ; her two breasts, 
swollen immeasurably, changed into two streams which 
formed a lagoon called Odo lyemoja, the lagoon of lye- 
moja near d'Okiadan. Her body becoming enormous 
burst open. The place is shown at Ifc the holy city of 



1 8 Fetichts7n. 

Yorouba (Ife signifies enlargement). From Ife, that is, 
from the gaping body of lyemoja, came forth in great 
confusion all the gods and goddesses, of which the princi- 
ple are 

Oloktm. 

The god of the sea and of the ocean, the negro Nep- 
tune, dwells in an immense palace under the sea. Seven 
enormous chains now hold him captive. In a moment of 
anger he attempted to destroy mankind because of their 
propensity to lie. He had almost exterminated them 
when Obatala interfered and forced him back to the sea, 
where he remains chained in his palace forever. From 
time to time his efforts to break his chains create the 
storms on the ocean. Animals are sacrificed to him, and 
sometimes human beings. 

Olosa. 

His wife is Olosa (the lagoon), who also has her palace 
under the waters. The crocodile is sacred to her, and is 
supposed to be her messenger. Sacrifice is offered to 
Olosa in small temples on the lagoon ; sometimes they 
also immolate to her human victims to make her favor- 
able to the fisheries. 

But sacrifices are more frequently offered to her mes- 
senger the crocodile, who is supposed to carry to his mis- 
tress the offerings of the faithful. To this end the fetich- 
priests hold up for the adoration of the people the mon- 
ster who is invested with this charge by the goddess. 
When the crocodile having the necessary marks is seen, 
a little cabin is made for him, or rather a few pickets with 
some palm-branches designate the place chosen for his 
dwelling, and every five days the fetich priests and priest- 
esses bring him food. 

At Porto-Novo, near the mission, there is one which is 
very tame. As soon as he hears the women coming sing- 
ing and dancing he comes out of the water and runs to 
meet theme The worshippers, remaining at a respectful 



Fetichism. 19 

distance, throw him their offerings — a hen, some acasas, 
etc. Near the water is his temple, or rather an enclosure 
made of bamboo and palm-branches. There on his feast- 
day they dance and amuse themselves; the monster re- 
maining- near by under the water, showing his nose from 
time to time to see if the sacrifice is nearly ready : for this 
day is an occasion to him of great feasting, and his adorers 
may enjoy the presence of their god without fear of being 
devoured by him. These divinities are not perfectly se- 
cure from all misadventure, as the following fact testifies : 

A Mahometan negro, rather unscrupulous about his re- 
ligion, having drowned his reason in a gourd of rum, heard 
the chants of the pagan women on their way to the lagoon 
to offer sacrifice to the crocodile. Remembering how 
delicious was the flesh of this animal, which he had eaten 
in his own country,* and without reflecting to what danger 
his audacity exposed him, he armed himself with a large 
harpoon and ran to the lagoon, following the women who 
were singing the praises of the crocodile fetich. The 
monster advanced to the shore to receive its customary 
offering. 

The Haoussa darted like an arrow through the women, 
Q.xy\x\^, Allah kbar (''God is great"), and sprung into a 
canoe. The adorers of the aquatic divinit}^ divining his 
intention, clasped their hands above their heads and cried 
in consternation. Ye I Ye ! Oricha, o, ma kpa o. Ye I Ye ! 
(" It is the fetich ; do not kill him.") But the imprudent fel- 
low, deaf to their cries, and intent on his enterprise, stood 
erect in his canoe, harpoon in hand, ready to plunge it into 
the monster, who advanced on the surface of the water, 
opening his jaws to catch his accustomed feast. In an 
instant the Haoussa thrust forward his dart and buried it 
through the scales in the back of the crocodile, but losing 
his balance at the same time, he fell into the water and dis- 
appeared. 

*The Haousses eat the flesh of the crocodile and consider it excellent. 



20 Fetichisfn. 

The women gave a cry of terror and stood as if petri- 
fied, their eyes fixed upon the lagoon. The water bub- 
bled up and soon became red with blood. The monster, 
seizing his adversary, tore and mutilated him frightfully. 
All that remained of the Haoussa was an indescribable 
human wreck, bloody fragments of which floated near the 
shore and were carried along by the current. 

The worshippers applauded their fetich, crying, Oricha 
o, o ti kpa 6, (" The fetich has killed him.") But their tri- 
umph was not of long duration. A few days afterward 
the monster floated like an inert mass on the surface of 
the water. The fetich priests, after a solemn funeral, thrust 
the body into its den under the bushes, and there it re- 
mained. 



After Obatala the most celebrated god is Chango, ^\r- 
nsLxned /ahUa. 

Among all his brother-gods he is the most powerful and 
has. the most adorers. His dwelling is above the firma- 
ment, and he has a great retinue in this immense palace 
with its gates of bronze ; he owns numbers of horses, and 
amuses himself with fishing and hunting. His brother 
Ugun, the god of war, furnishes him with chains of fire 
{inanamana, lightning) which he hurls from high heaven 
upon his enemies. He is always accompanied by his 
messenger (Ara, thunder), who sends forth with loud noise 
manamajia (the chain of fire). His three wives are be- 
side him : Oya with her messenger Afefe (the wind) ; Oba 
and Ochun with the bow and the sword of the god. Biri 
(darkness) entirely envelops the god and his companions. 

Such is Chango of the negro theogony. The Chango 
that is now venerated is not the same ; although he has 
the same attributes as the ancient Chango, he is of more 
recent date. According to the fetich-priests this god was a 
very cruel, wicked king of Yorouba. War, injustice, theft, 
murder, and all sorts of violence accompanied him. He 
despised the ancients and the fetich-priests, utterly ig- 



Fetichism. 23 

nored the national, civil, and religious traditions, thereby 
rendering himself odious to everybody. The govern- 
ment of the Yorouba countries is a patriarchal monarchy. 
The king as well as the chiefs of the province and of fami- 
lies have each their associates who aid and counsel them 
in the government. Under them the ancients are the 
guardians of the customs and usages of the nation ; they 
never allow them to be in the least changed or altered, 
and are thus a barrier against the despotism of the kings, 
the governors of the province, and the heads of families. 
When a sovereign oversteps his rights and contemns the 
warnings of the ancients, the chiefs of the city police 
inform the king that he has served them long enough and 
beg him to rest from the cares of ofhce. To this end they 
send him parrots' eggs in a gourd, which among the blacks 
has the same significance as the silk cord of the Turks. 
Hence comes the popular superstition that whoever looks 
upon the parrot's eggs becomes immediately blind. The 
sending of the parrot's Qg^ signifies: Choose the kind of 
death which would be the easiest to you ; otherwise we 
will choose for you. 

Change perfectly understood the message. He tried to 
assemble his people, but they having been warned in 
time, no one dared disobey the ancients. Then he chose 
exile. Only one of his wives and a faithful slave consented 
to follow him. Chango escaped in the night in order to 
reach Tapa, his mother's country, beyond the Niger. 
During his nocturnal flight his wife abandoned him. He 
and his faithful slave lost their way in the forest and could 
not regain the road. Having wandered at random for 
several days, Chango, worn out with fatigue, exhausted 
with hunger, a prey to despair, said to his companion, 
" Wait here; 1 will return, and we will continue our jour- 
ney." The slave waited a long time, and when his master 
did not return he went to seek him, and found him dead 
hanging to a tree called Ayan. Not knowing what to do, 
the poor negro ran out into the open countr3^ and soon 



24 Fetichism, 

met the people coming from the market of 03-0. He 
called them to aid him in rendering the last services to the 
deceased, and soon the news spread in Oyo that the king 
had hung himself, — for, according to the customs of the 
blacks, it is not permitted to say, " The king is dead ;" 
you must say, /// baj^, oba ti lo. ('' The earth is lost, the 
king has departed.") Among the negroes royalty is dei- 
fied ; kings are supposed to be of the race of gods, and 
after death become demi-gods. 

When the ancients, the jealous preservers of the ancient 
traditions, heard that Chango had hung himself, they were 
terrified. The religious and political system was about 
to receive a mortal blow, and they would be accused of 
having caused the death of the king. They must at any 
cost extricate themselves from such terrible straits. They 
assembled as quickly as possible the secret police and 
the fetich-priests, and they hastened to the place where 
Chango hung himself. They buried him with a long iron 
chain, the end of which they left protruding above the 
ground ; and having built a fetich-hut over the place, they 
prostrated themselves before it and cried out, Oluwa 
wa Chango, O wo He lo. (" Our master Chango has de- 
scended into the earth.") O di Oricha. (" He has become 
a fetich ; he lives among the dead.") 

They left the fetich-priests to worship the new god; 
but in the city it was said, " It is false. Chango killed 
himself; he hung himself." Chango so. The ancients and 
their partisans replied : 

Chango ko so, di oricha: " Chango did not hang himself, 
he has become oricha." 

As the contending party was numerous and the people 
appeared incredulous, the ancients ordered the police to 
resort to the most severe measures to remove the evi- 
dences of Chango's self-destruction. Profiting by a storm, 
they set fire to the city and proclaimed, " Chango, who 
has become a fetich, is angry; he has not hung himself; 
to punish you he has hurled upon you thunderbolts." 



Fetichism. 25 

It was announced that to honor and appease Chango 
sacrifices would be offered. Men and women were im- 
molated in great numbers ; terror was at its height, and 
all cried: 

Chango ko so. ko so : " Chango has not hung himself." 

This incident gave to Chango the additional name of 
Obakoso, king of the city of Ikoso, which is the place 
where he hung himself and was buried. It soon became 
a city, for the people gradually came to live near the new 
temple, and built houses for the fetich-priests. 

The new sovereigns of Yorouba come to Ikoso on the 
day of their consecration to receive the sword of Chango, 
the insignia of their executive power. 

Finally the fetich-priests of Chango adopted the ancient 
legends of the original Chango, and with those of their 
new god formed an odd mixture of ridiculous fables, of 
which the following is a specimen : 

Chango before leaving this earth had obtained from his 
father, Obatala, a powerful medicine which gave him the 
power to overcome all his enemies. He immediately 
tried the effect of the medicine, and confided to the care 
of his wife Oya all that remained of it. She too, in secret, 
tasted the medicine. The next morning the king's coun- 
cil, terrified to see flames burst from the king's mouth at 
every word, fled in dismay. Oya also frightened away 
all her women and all the people of the palace, for she 
too sent forth flames from her mouth at every word. 
Soon afterward Chango, feeling that he had become 
equal to his father, took his three wives, Oya, Ochun, and 
Oba, and stamping his foot on the ground, which opened, 
he descended with them holding on to a long chain ; 
then the earth closed up again, leaving the end of tlie 
chain above the ground. Since that time Chango has 
returned to earth many times and in several places ; in 
memory of which, fetich temples and colleges have been 
established. 

Near the mission at Porto-Novo is a place celebrated 



26 Fetichism. 

for one of these visits of Chango. For a great many 
years a fetich-temple and a college stood there. The 
temple has been deserted for some time, one fetich-priest 
alone taking care of it. The college, inconvenienced by 
being so near us, has been removed elsewhere. The fol- 
lowing is the legend which commemorates this fact. 
Chango, who had been brutal and wicked during his life, 
became still more violent and brutal after death. Very 
often every year he flew into a violent rage, hurling thun- 
derbolts and only calming himself to return again to his 
fury. 

One day Oya (Niger), his cherished wife, dreading his 
fury, fled to her brother Olokun (the sea). Chango, hearing 
of it, was furious and resolved to revenge himself. He 
followed the sun in its course to where the sea and the 
sky meet. Here, say the blacks, is where the white peo- 
ple come in their ships and find all the things with which 
they fill them. Chango descended into the empire of his 
brother Olokun. Oya, terrified, ran to her sister Olosa 
(a lagoon which connects with the Niger and with the 
ocean), pursued by Chango making a frightful fracas. 
This is why there are no trees on the border of the 
lagoon ; they were uprooted at this time and cast 
away. 

Oya fled again from her sister's abode and took refuge 
with Houese, an inhabitant of the country, — who has since 
become a fetich, thanks to the supernatural power com- 
municated to him by Oya by means of the medicines 
which she had stolen from her husband at the time of her 
flight. Houese warmly took up the defence of Oya, and 
a memorable struggle ensued. The combat began near 
the water where Houese's hut was built. Chango seized 
his canoe as a club ; Houese, feeling a divine force, armed 
himself with a tree : canoe and tree flew into splinters. 
During the fight Oya fled to Lokoro!^ Then the two ad- 

* In the neighborhood of Porto Novo. 



Fetichism. 27 

versaries closed with each other, and with flames bursting 
from their mouths fought with terrible fury; their feet 
dug deep furrows in the earth, like those still seen near 
the missions, which are the deep excavations made by 
the rains. Finally, neither adversary being able to con- 
quer, Chango, exhausted with fatigue, disgraced and en- 
raged, stamped on the ground, redescended among the 
dead, and from there entered into higher Olympus. Oya 
(the Niger) remained at Lokoro, where a temple was built 
to her. The goddess is here represented by a statue with 
nine heads, one of which is surrounded by the other 
eight — a symbol, no doubt, of the Niger and its tributaries. 
Houese has his temple on the place where he descended 
alive into the earth. 

The fetich-priests of Chango could not meet those of 
Houese without giving battle in memory of the memo- 
rable struggle of their respective chiefs, each party 
maintaining that his god is the stronger. The king of 
Porto-Novo, to avoid all difficulties, forbade the fetich- 
priests of Chango to come beyond the boundary-lines, and 
commanded those of Houese to remain on the other side 
at the time of the fetich -feasts. The fetich -priests of 
Chango wear a sack, the emblem of pillage, in honor of 
the pillaging virtues of their master. At certain times 
they are privileged to steal the hens and goats they 
meet in the street. When a house is struck by lightning 
they have a right to pillage it, and to impose a fine on 
the victims of the fire, in order to complete the vengeance 
of Chango, who it is supposed strikes only the guilty with 
lightning. And to prove the guilt of the household they 
search for thunderbolts, — and always find them without 
any difficulty, as they bring them with them. At Why- 
dah, the mission-house was struck b}^ lightning and re- 
duced to ashes; the fetich-priests of Chango exacted a 
large fine ; Father Borghero, then Superior, was put in 
prison, and was only released when the French merchants 
kindly paid the fine for the mission. 



28 Fetichism, 

Red and white are Chango's colors. Hens and other 
animals are ofiered to mm, and even human victims. 

Oya, Ochun, Oha. 

After Cnango were born Ova. Ochun. and Oba, all 
three wives oi Chango. Ova uhe Niger hcvd for s^ave 
Afcf^ tp.e wind'. Wnen her husband thiu:~cred, 5::e pre- 
ceaecl :::::i witn her messenger Afe'u. Oc'iii-: a::i Oba 
(two rivers of Yorouba followed their spouse : one carried 
his bow, the other his sword. Fmaiiy Biri (darkness;, 
Chango's slave, accompanied his master, whose will and 
vengeance Ara tthe dust; executed. 

After these three goddesses was born Dada TXature and 
vegetables;. The symbol of the god of nature is a gourd 
ornamented with white porcelain ^elis and a ball of 
vegetable indigo. 

Ochosi. 

Oc::osi. a hunter, whose svmbol is a bow. 

Aje Chaluga. 

Aje Chaluga. the African Mercury, god of riches, son of 
the Ocean, nas ::r emblem a large sea-shell, before which 
offerings are made to obtain from the god riches, which 
on the Slave Ccr-st z-::^ acquired with porcelain shells, small 
sea-shells whic:: tal^e the place of gold and silver. All 
colors are consecrated to him. 

Ugun. 

Ugun fa river of Yorouba which flows into the sea near 

Lasfos is the god of war and the chase. Any piece of 
iron :::av serve for his svmbol. I have heard the blacks 
swear, savins:. " Mav Ugun kill me if I lie I" and they kiss 
the iron of their sabre. Warriors, hunters, blacksmiths. 
and all those who use iron tools offer sacrifices to him. 
He is especially the god of blacksmiths, for Ugtm is the 
negro Yulcan and furnishes Chango with the thunder- 
bolts, manainana. and the red-hot iron chains which this 




A HUMAN SACRIFICE TO UGUN, THE GOD OK WAR (SLAVE COAST). 



Fetichism. 3 1 

god hurls upon those he wishes to kill. Animals are 
sacrificed to him, particularly the dog, and also human 
victims. 

OM. 

Oke ^s the god of the mountains. His symbol is a stone. 

Oricha- Oko. 

Oricha-Oko, the god of the fields and of agriculture, 
has for emblem a long iron bar. This god, the brother 
and friend of Chango, is much honored among the blacks 
and has a great many temples and fetich priests and 
priestesses. The bees are his messengers. 

Chainpana. 

Champana (the small-pox) is a diseased, deformed god. 
The gods being one day assembled at the palace of 
Obatala, the father of the gods, they were invited to 
dance. Champana stumbled and fell, thus exposing him- 
self to the raillery of his sister-goddesses. In his anger 
and disgust he tried to communicate to them the small-pox, 
but Obatala repulsed him with his lance and drove him 
away. Since that time he inhabits the deserts and forests; 
his temples are always built outside of the city, in a wood 
or grove. Mosquitoes and flies are his messengers. His 
symbol is a large stick marked with red and white spots. 
He is the most dreaded of all the fetiches. 

Orun and Ochu. 

Orun and Ochu (the sun and the moon) are obsolete 
gods to whom sacrifices are no longer offered. The sun 
and the moon had innumerable children. The young 
suns wished to follow their father, but he, jealous of his 
power and wishing to be alone, fell upon his children and 
tried to kill them. Then the children precipitated them- 
selves on the earth and took refuge with lyemoja, their 
grandmother, who changed them into fish and took them 
to her bosom. Some of them remained with her; others 
went in great numbers to Olosa (the lagoon) and to Olokun 



3 2 FetichisTit. 

(the sea). Only the daughters of the moon found grace 
with their father; they accompany their mother at night. 
But it sometimes happens that the sun leaves his course 
to follow the moon and maltreat her. Then the blacks 
come out and shriek and beat drums to frighten the sun 
and oblige him to leave the moon in peace. This uproar 
takes place every time there is an eclipse of the moon. 
Cries of "Away! Begone! Leave her!" fill the air until 
peace is re-established in the heavens. 

Having enumerated the inferior divinities dependent 
upon the two first superior divinities, we come to the 
third. After Obatala and Odudua, Ifa is the fetich the 
most honored among the blacks. He is the revealer of 
future events, the patron of marriage and of birth. He is 
also called Bango (the god of the palm-nut), because six- 
teen palm-nuts are used to consult the god and obtain an 
answer. The city sacred to Ifa is Ado, built on an immense 
rock. 

Nothing is done without consulting him, and they 
always act in accordance with his answer. He is the 
messenger and interpreter of the gods ; it is through his 
ministry that the fetiches manifest their will, and that 
man makes known his wants. 

The legend represents that Ifa came from the city of Ife, 
but does not clearly indicate who were his father and 
mother; it seems that he was, like the others, the son of 
Obatala and Odudua. He is the benefactor of humanity, 
the god of wisdom. He left the city of Ifa, which would 
not listen to him, and roamed the earth to instruct man in 
the arts, and above all in the knowledge of the future. 
Several instances are related which show that if he is the 
god of wisdom, he is not the god of chastity. However, 
immorality is the distinctive characteristic of the pagan 
gods. 

After many peregrinations and adventures, Ifa tinaLy 



Fetichism, 33 

established himself at Ado and pla«nted on the rock a 
palm-nut which produced sixteen palm-trees from the 
same root. 

The legend relates that when Olokun, the god of the 
sea, destroyed nearly all mankind by the floods, there re- 
mained only a few that Obatala had saved by drawing 
them up to heaven with a long chain. Then Ifa and 
Odudua descended to earth to render it habitable again ; 
this is why Ifa and Odudua are held in such great venera- 
tion. But on this point tradition becomes vague and 
sometimes contradictory. 

Another tradition, which seems the same as the above 
iinder a different form, relates that the first people sent 
to establish themselves at Yorouba (it is not said from 
whence or by whom) were obliged to walk for a long 
time in the water which covered the earth. He by whom 
they were sent had given them a little earth and a palm- 
nut in a piece of linen, and also a hen. When they had 
travelled a long time, as the earth was still covered with 
water they threw the palm-nut into the waves, which im- 
mediately produced a palm-tree with sixteen roots. The 
blacks climbed into the tree to rest. Then they threw 
the earth into the waves, and it immediately formed a 
small hill, upon which the hen flew and began to scratch 
and spread the earth with her claws. Gradually the 
earth expanded, the water disappeared, the travellers were 
able to continue their journey, and they arrived at 
Yorouba, where they established themselves. We see in 
this legend the deified earth and the sacred tree : the palm 
recalls Ifa. 

Ifa taught men the art of consulting fate to know the 
future and the will of the gods in the following manner : 
In the beginning, when there were very few men in the 
universe, Ifa and the other gods had not as now an abun- 
dance of presents and sacrifices. The gods were obliged 
to contrive means of satisfying their desires. Ifa among 
others devoted himself to fishing. One da}^ exhausted 



Fetichisfyi, 



with fatigue, he addressed himself to Elegba, the most 
acute and crafty of the genii, as well as the wicked- 
est, and who like himself suffered want in wandering 
through the deserts with his companions the spirits. 
Elegba, consulted as to the best means of ameliorating 
their mutual conditions, replied that if he had sixteen 
dates from the two palm-trees that Olorun Olodoumare 
(the all-powerful god) had entrusted to the care of man, 
he could teach him the art of knowing the future and of 
propitiating the gods, in order that he might have part in 
the sacrifices which were offered them. But before con- 
fiding to him his secret, Elegba stipulated that he should 
have the first choice of the sacrifices offered to the gods. 
Ifa accepted these conditions and promised to make 
Elegba's wishes respected ; and this custom is still ob- 
served. Ifa went in search of Orungan, the chief of men, 
and made him understand the advantage it would be to 
him to know the future and the will of the gods, and thus 
draw upon himself their favor and avoid their anger. 
The chief allowed himself to be persuaded ; he and his 
wife Arichabii ran to gather the sixteen dates necessary 
to the magical operations, but they could not reach them, 
the trees were so high. God had commanded them to be 
very careful of these two trees, above all never to allow 
the monkeys to cHmb them or injure them. They with- 
drew a short distance, and permitted the monkeys to come 
and throw^ down the required sixteen dates. These ani- 
mals, having already been tempted for a long time by the 
sight of the sixteen full ripe dates, leaped with one bound 
into the trees and began to eat the red pulp which sur- 
rounds the stone of the date, and threw upon the ground 
the remains of the despoiled fruit. Orungan and his wife 
gathered them up ; the woman tied them up in a piece of 
cloth and fastened the package on her back in the way 
the negresses carry their chidlren. Then they both 
tried to chase away the monkeys, but could not, for 
when driven from one tree they jumped into the other, 



Fetichism, 35 

breaking and injuring at pleasure the two beautiful palm- 
trees. 

Ifa taught Orungan how to make use of these dates in 
consulting fate, and he selected one of his faithful 
Ochougbolu and explained to him the method and cere 
monial to be observed in consulting the future. In mem 
ory of this tradition, when they wish to consult fate or to 
make a grand ceremonious feast in honor of Ifa in the 
grove sacred to this god, the mother or wife of him for 
whom the god is consulted carries in a cloth on her back 
the sixteen sacred nuts, and the fetich-priest before com- 
mencing the ceremony salutes Orungan and his wife, say- 
ing, Orungan ajuba 6 ! ('' Orungan, I salute you. ') Ori- 
cJiabii ajuba of (" Orichabii, I salute you.") 

Then he offers sacrifice to Ifa, of which the dates are the 
symbol. Finally he places before the god a small board 
on which are marked sixteen figures, each having a certain 
number of points. These figures are very similar to play 
ing-cards used by fortune-tellers. The fetich priests use 
them in almost the same way, bringing out at will good or 
bad fortune according as they deem it expedient to better 
dupe the fool who comes to consult them. When he has 
found the desired figure, he begins to explain whether the 
enterprise in question will succeed or not. the sacrifices to 
be offered, the things to be avoided. It is well understood 
that the higher the price paid the greater the inspiration 
of the fetich-priest, for there are large and small games. 

Ifa is the most venerated of all the gods ; his oracle is 
the most consulted, and his numerous priests form the 
first sacerdotal order. They are always dressed in white, 
and shave the head and the body. They offer sacrifices 
and libations to Ifa, and on certain important occasions 
they immolate to him human victims. 



36 Fetichism, 



II. Demi-Gods. 
Deification of Humanity. 

Besides the principal divinities of which we have just 
spoken, there are many others less important which can- 
not be enumerated, for their number daily increases. A 
family establishes itself near a river, a forest, a rock, or 
mountain; imagination aided by the fetich-priests soon 
creates a belief in a demi-god, a tutelary genius of the 
place, and thus a new divinit}^ makes its appearance in 
the negro pantheon, and it is not long before it has its 
legend also. 

The worship of the dead has greatly aided in augment- 
ing the number of the gods. Joined to the worship of 
nature is that of humanity. The descendants from gen- 
eration to generation offer presents and sacrifices on the 
tomb of their ancestor, and end by adoring him as a 
local divinity, the origin of which becomes more and 
more obscure and consequently more and more venera- 
ble. This occurred at Porto-Novo in the case of the 
chiefs of families in various parts of the city, of whom 
the inhabitants are the real descendants. 

The blacks also render divine honors to those men 
whom they believe to have been raised after their death 
to a high degree of power which renders them equal to 
the gods. This honor is given not to those who were 
celebrated for their virtues and their good deeds, but to 
rascals who have rendered themselves odious by exact- 
ing enormous fines and are stained with all sorts of in- 
famous crimes. These are for the most part the pillaging 
kings and princes who have ravaged and devastated 
countries, destroyed entire cities, who were the terror of 
their subjects and of their own families. 



Fetichism. 3 7 

Such is Ajahuto, whose temple is in the palace of the 
king of Porto-Novo ; he was one of their former princes, 
who killed his father-in-law. When a young girl is dedi- 
cated to his worship she is obliged to remain always a 
virgin ; she has precedence of all the chiefs of Porto- 
Novo ; she alone does not prostrate herself before the 
king. She takes care of the temple of the demi-gods, to 
whom she offers the sacrifices. The last one was exe- 
cuted for having failed in her duty, and no one has yet 
been found to replace her. Every year human victims 
are immolated to Ajahuto. 

Another demi-god famous at Dahomey is Adanlosan, 
another celebrated king. The blacks maintain that he 
is not dead, but that he became a fetich in life, and that 
he often comes to dwell in his palace at Abomey. The 
reigning king is very careful to do nothing without con- 
sulting him ; but both he and the fetich-priests know how 
much of this to believe. 

Adanlosan was a very cruel chief, and at the same time 
a dreaded warrior. He it was who closed with baskets 
filled with sand the estuary through which the waters of 
the great lake Nokume flowed to the sea at Kotonou, and 
forced them into the lagoon which empties near Lagos. 
On the canal thus constructed he passed with his army 
to destroy the city of Tocpo, not far from Badagry. The 
mission has a beautiful farm on the ruins of this city. 
This king finally made himself so odious to his family 
and his subjects that the ancients resolved to rid them- 
selves of him. An opportunity of carrying out their 
resolution presented itself in the following manner: One 
day his brother's little son while amusing himself threw a 
stone which struck Adanlosan. He immediately ordered 
the child to be beheaded. His father as well as all those 
present begged and implored mercy for the boy, but the 
king was inflexible and commanded his orders to be 
executed. Then the child's father fell upon the chief, 
threw him from his throne, and a terrible struggle ensued ; 



^S Fetuhism. 

but no one came to the aid of the detested tyrant : thev 
bound him hand and foot and shut him in a small room 
in the palace., the entrance to which they walled up and 
left him to die of hunger. The report was soon spread 
abroad that the king being old had become a fetich and 
shut himself up in this room in order to remain among 
his people and protect them. 

The worship and homage rendered to the dead is ex- 
actly the same as that given to the fetiches. They have 
their temples and their priests : sacrifices are offered to 
them, sometimes human sacrifices. 



Fetichism. ^^^K 39 



III. Genii. 

After the gods and the demi-gods come the spirits or 
genii. The genii are very numerous; some are good and 
some bad spirits. A certain number serve as messengers 
to the gods and demi-gods ; some are considered nearly 
as powerful as the gods themselves and have authority 
over lesser spirits who are their messengers, and these in 
turn command others, forming a hierarchy which is not 
very defined. The more ordinary spirits dwell in the 
forests and deserts. 

GOOD GENII. 

The good or protecting genii are those who are con- 
sidered as being well disposed towards man. They are 
deputed by Obatala, the father of the gods, to take care 
of the different parts of the universe. Although good, 
they are subject to anger; their moods are very change- 
able, and they are exacting in their service. 

Aroni. 

Aroni is the genius of the forest, and is said also to be 
skilful in medicine. He is not very good, and is very 
capricious and much dreaded by those who do not know 
his character. This genius appears under the human 
form with a dog's head and only one foot. At other 
times he manifests himself by a whirlwind which rushes 
through the forest carrying the leaves before it. Who- 
ever meets him in the forest and has the misfortune to 
run is devoured. But to him who stands his ground 
and looks fearlessly at him the monster becomes as 
gentle as a lamb. He conducts the happy mortal to his 
palace in the depths of the woods, where for several 
months he takes the greatest care of his guest, teaches 



40 Fetichism. 

him all sorts of remedies, explains to him the properties 
of the various barks and roots, and finally confers upon 
him the title of doctor, giving- him for a diploma a hair 
from his tail. 

1 met one day an old fetich-priest who called himself a 
disciple of Aroni ; he showed me his diploma, a hair from 
the back of a wild-boar. He said he knew everything 
about medicine, offered to secure me against fever for- 
ever, assuring me that for the future I w^ould be as strong 
as iron-wood, and that I would live till the end of time 
like an old moss-covered trunk of a tree. The rogue did 
not ask much for his services : only two bags of shells to 
buy his food during the two weeks which he would have 
to spend in the forest in order to procure all the roots 
and bark necessary to change me into wood ; then a bag 
of shells to purchase a perfectly new black pot, a sheep to 
consecrate the pot by a solemn sacrifice, land finally of 
course a bottle of rum to give him strength to dance 
around the pot during the mysterious operations. I dis- 
missed the rascal with his promises, his medicine, and his 
diploma, advising him to concoct a remedy to rejuvenate 
his wrinkled skin, and he w^ent off grinning. 

Ele'da. 

Every man has three genii, or protecting spirits. The 
first is Eleda, who dwells in the head, which he guides. A 
hen is offered in sacrifice to him ; a little of the blood of 
the fowl, mixed with oil is rubbed on the forehead. This 
is the genius' portion ; then the hen is eaten. A small 
package of white shells is his symbol. 

Ojehun or Op in ijehun. 

This second genius has his habitation in the region of 
the stomach. He is the most favored, and the one to 
which the blacks pay the most attention because of his 
position. Opin ijehun, whose name signifies " he who takes 
part in the food," is also the genius who keeps up the 



Fetichism. 43 

fire ; he never permits this precious element which serves 
in preparing the food to be extinguished, naturally find- 
ing this to his advantage. 

His messenger is Ebi (hunger). When the negro is 
idle and lazy, Ebi pinches his stomach, and the lazy negro 
is obhged to go to work to gain wherewith to satisfy Ebi 
and his master. The negro often when begging will 
point to his empty stomach, saying, Ebi pa mi (" Ebi kills 
me"). Of course no particular sacrifices are offered to 
Ojehun ; he is served every day as well as the means of 
the negro will permit. 

Ipori. 

Ipori, the third protecting genius, takes up his abode in 
the great toe. This genius is very poorly provided for. 
Sacrifices are very rarely offered to him, only when the 
negro is about to undertake an important journey. Then 
he does homage to his toe by rubbing on it a little 
chicken-blood and oil, and the genius is satisfied. The 
negro then sets out with his three genii, and he cannot 
fail to bring back intact his head, feet, and stomach. 

Alayor^. 

Alayore is the protector of the hearth ; he has the care of 
the house. Armed with a stick or sword, according to 
the fancy of the master, it is his office to drive away from 
the house evil spirits, particularly the terrible Elegba, 
who stands at the door under the wretched thatched roof. 

Osanyin, 

Osanyin, the genius of medicine, is of all the genii the 
most highly esteemed and the most frequently consulted. 
His symbol, an iron rod surmounted by a figure of a bird, 
is found in the court-yard of all the houses, gencrall)^ at 
the foot of a tree. When the fetich-priest consults him, 
the genius answers in a voice very like a little chicken or 
bird. Of course it is the fetich-priest who asks the 



44 Fetichism. 

question and gives the answer. The crafty charlatan 
never fails to do it very adroitly. 

One day while travelling I went into a fetich-cabin to 
rest ; there were three other little cabins near mine in the 
same sacred grove, not far from a village called Ipobita. 
Scarcely had I entered when a band of negroes and a 
fetich-priest arrived ; they came to consult the god of the 
genius of medicine about a poor man w^ho had hydro- 
phobia. The sick man remained with the others outside 
of the grove ; the fetich-priest entered one of the sacred 
cabins near the one I occupied. It seemed that the- 
genius was out walking in the neighboring forest, for the 
fetich-priest began calling him by ringing a little iron 
bell. After a few strokes of the bell a low whispering 
w^as heard in the distance. It gradually drew near until 
it was heard in the cabin where the fetich-priest was. 
(This whispering sound is made by putting a leaf or a 
blade of grass between the teeth and the lower lip.) 
Then a dialogue began, the genius whispering, the fetich- 
priest answering ; finally he explained to the faithful, lying 
outside with their faces to the ground, what the god 
said. At first the medicine-genius asked a very high 
price for curing the sick man. He replied that he could 
not pay ; that he was poor ; that he had already spent 
much, and that he could no longer work. After a great 
deal of parley everything was arranged, and the fetich- 
priest left the temple satisfied. They drank freely of palm- 
wine, a full gourd of which was offered to the genius and 
poured in front of his symbol. 

Aidowedo. 

A'ldowedo (the rainbow) is a genius held in great ven- 
eration at Porto-Novo. In Yorouba he is called Ochu- 
mare. The temples dedicated to this genius are painted 
in all the colors of the rainbow, and in the middle of the 
prism a serpent is drawn. This genius is a large serpent ; 
he only appears when he wants to drink, and then he 



J 



Fetichism. 47 

rests his tail on the ground and thrusts his mouth into the 
water. He who finds the excrement of this serpent is 
rich forever, for with this taUsman he can change grains 
of corn into shells, which pass for money. 

The blacks are firmly persuaded of this. One day I 
tried to disabuse my little negroes of this idea, and ex- 
plained to them by means of a prism the way the rain- 
bow was formed. A negro man who was present, seeing 
the colors reflected in the prism and paying no attention 
to the explanation, believed that with this piece of glass I 
could bring down the rainbow at will. He became firmly 
convinced of this, and told that he now knew how with- 
out being in trade we always had shells to buy food and 
build houses ; for, said he, he has shown me how to bring 
Ochoumare into my room. Soon several negroes came 
to beg of me some of the precious excrement. I had the 
greatest difficulty in getting rid of them, and they w^ent 
away persuaded that I wished to keep the much-desired 
substance all to myself. 

Among the Yoroubas the boa-constrictor, called Ere, is 
supposed to be the messenger of this serpent-genius. 

When a boa is declared to be the messenger of the god, 
it is not permitted to kill him ; on the contrary, presents 
must be made to him. Leaves from the fetich palm-tree 
of Ifa scattered about indicate to the devotees the place 
chosen by the monster for his dwelling. Woe to the 
cabins that are in his neighborhood ! for hens, goats, sheep, 
and even little children are in danger. 

One of these subordinate divinities, driven b}'' fire from 
the bushes where he lived, took up his new abode in a 
thicket near the house of one of our Christians. The 
neighboring fetich-priest declared that the serpent was 
sacred, and scattered palm-leaves in front of the thicket, 
thus proclaiming the thicket sacred also. The neighboring 
blacks offered hens in sacrifice to the new god ; but as 
these sacrifices were not frequent, the god came out at 
night and devoured all animals that had not been caiefully 



48 Fetichism. 

locked up. All the hens or goats that approached too near 
the thicket during the day forfeited their lives by their 
temerity. My Christian dared not rid himself of his 
neighbor, having a certain superstitious fear of him. I 
advised him to offer the monster a sacrifice difl&cult to di- 
gest : and by this means he was disposed of. 

A: Dahome}- and at Porto-Novo a small poisonless, verv 
inoffensive species of boa called Dangbe{dan^ serpent, ^^/, 
life) is consecrated to this genius, and is considered his 
messenger. This serpent has his temples and fetich- 
priests ; it is forbidden to kill him under the most severe 
penalties ; and but for the pigs, an unsuperstitious race 
which devour the serpents in great numbers, it would be 
impossible to keep any domestic animals. 

Dangbe in his turn has white ants for messengers, doubt- 
less for his lesser wants. A hillock of white ants is often 
seen surrounded with palm-leaves to indicate that the 
inhabitants are now in the service of Dangbe. If a negro 
sees a serpent coming out of an ant-hiU, he runs at once 
and reports this to the fetich-priest, who immediately 
brings palm-leaves, which he scatters about the mound. 

EVIL GEXII. 
Eleg'ca or Echu. 

The chief of all the evil genii, the wickedest as well as the 
most dreaded, is Echu, a word signifying " the rejected." 
He is also called Elegba or Elegbaraj " the strong," and 
again Ongogo Ogo^ "the genius of the knotted stick." 

To protect themselves against his wickedness, the blacks 
keep in their houses the idol Olaroza^ the protecting 
genius of the house, who, armed with a stick or sword, 
guards the entrance. But in order to ward off his cruelty, 
when obliged to go out to attend to business, they never 
fail to give him his share in all the sacrifices. When a 
negro wishes to revenge himself on an enemy, he makes 
a generous offering to Elegba, presenting him with a copi- 



Fetichism. 5 1 

ous draught of tafia — palm-wine. Elegba then becomes 
enraged, and if the enemy is not well protected with amu- 
lets he is in great danger. 

This is the evil genius who, by himself or with his com- 
panions, urges men to sin, and above all excites in them 
shameful passions. Often when negroes are punished for 
theft or other misdeeds they excuse themselves, saying, 
Echou Vo ti mi. (" Echou made me do it.") 

The image of this wicked genius is placed in front of 
the houses, in all the parks, and on all the roads. 

Elegba is represented seated, with his hands on his 
knees, and perfectly nude, under a sort of roof made of 
palm-leaves. The idol is made of clay in human form, 
with an enormous head ; birds' feathers form the hair, two 
shells represent the eyes, and shells also form the teeth, 
giving him a horrible appearance. 

On grand occasions he is saturated with hen's blood 
and palm-oil, which gives him a still more hideous and 
disgusting appearance. To complete the worthy decora- 
tion of this ignoble symbol of the African Priapus, the han- 
dle of an old pickaxe or a large knotted stick is placed 
in front of him. The vultures, his messengers, fortunately 
eat the hens, dogs, and other victims that are immolated 
to him, which would otherwise poison the air. 

His principal temple is at Woro near Badagry. in the 
midst of a charming grove of palms and other beautiful 
trees. Near the lagoon, where a grand fair is held, the 
ground is strewn with shells which the blacks scatter 
there as offerings to Elegba, in order that he may not 
interfere with them. Once a year the fetich-priests of 
Elegba gather the shells to buy a slave to sacrifice to 
him, and brandy to inspirit the dancers ; what remains is 
for the fetich-priest. 

The followmg mstance shows Elcgba's inclinatKMi to 
make mischief: Jealous of the petfcct harmonv winch 
existed between two neighbors, he determined to set them 
at variance. For this purpose he put on a cap one side 



Fetichism. 



of which was pure white, the other bright red, and going 
out he passed between the two friends, who w^ere working 
in their fields, saluted them and passed on. 

When he had passed one said to the other : 

" What a beautiful white cap !" 

" Not at all," replied the other ; '' it is a lovely red one." 

From this the dispute became so animated between the 
two men that one broke the head of the other with a 
pickaxe. 

CJlOlLgOltdoiL, 

When the blacks wish to guard a place and inspire a 
fear of it, so that no one will dare approach it at night, 
the fetich-priests dig there a small hole in which they 
immolate to the evil spirits a hen or some animal, often 
even a human victim in order to have a stronger and 
more wicked spirit. The}' then cover the victim with 
earth, forming a sort of round tomb, on the top of which 
they place a vessel for the pittance offered to the spirits, 
who, thus duly installed, guard the post. The blacks 
have a great fear of the Chougoudou, and will never pass 
at night the places where they are, for fear of being mal- 
treated by the spirits. The palace of the king of Porto- 
Novo is under the powerful protection of a Chougoudou. 



Genu of tJie Trees. 

The iroko and several other kinds of trees are consid- 
ered to be the dwelling-place of evil spirits. The tree 
supposed to be haunted by a spirit is marked by a circle 
of palm-leaves; a path leads to it, and earthen vessels and 
human bones are laid against its trunk. Thanks to this 
superstition, the large beautiful trees which adorn the 
African cities and villages are spared. However, if they 
want to cut one down which is not in the city, the}^ can 
with sacrifices of hens and oil and with the help of money 
make the genius leave the tree and install him elsewhere. 
If a negro goes to the forest to cut down one of the trees 




KKIUMI rUKK 



Fetichism, 5 5 

usually chosen by the genii, through fear of the evil 
spirit he does homage to his good genius by rubbing a 
little oil on his forehead, and then fearlessly cuts down 
the tree. At Porto-Novo a European, not knowing the 
customs of the country, had a large tree cut down which 
interfered with his building. The negro who did the work, 
believing that the white man had authority for it and that 
the ceremony of transfer had taken place, cut down the 
tree without troubling himself about it. But the king, 
hearing of it, had the negro beheaded without trial, sa3^ing, 
if the white man did not know the customs of the country, 
the negro ought to know them. 

The blacks believe that the sorcerers, called Aje, as- 
semble at night at the foot of these trees to do homage to 
the spirits living in them. When these sorcerers wish to 
revenge themselves, the spirit places at their disposition 
his messenger the owl, who, directed b}^ an inferior 
spirit, goes to the house of the person the sorcerer wishes 
to kill, and eats his heart out in the night. When this 
bird is seen in the house, it is for the purpose of killing 
some one. If he can be caught and his legs and wings 
broken, it is believed that the same harm is thus inflicted 
on the sorcerer who sent him. 

This is one of the most deep-rooted superstitions in the 
minds of the blacks, and is the cause of much vengeance 
and many crimes; even the Christians find great difhcidty 
in ridding themselves of it. 

The old women are often accused of being ajc. Many 
of the poor old creatures are submitted to the test of 
Onc6, condemned to death and executed the following 
night. The most curious part of it is that they often be- 
lieve they have really committed the crime of which they 
are accused. Doubtless to be revenged or to gain a sum of 
mone}^ they have gone to the foot of the sacred tree and 
asked the genius to send his messenger to kill such or 
such a one, and when the victim dies they believe that 
the owl has gradually eaten his heart. 



56 Fetichis77i, 

Among the blacks, white magic, the object of which is 
to do good, ward off evil, and cure the sick, is permitted ; 
but black or wicked magic is forbidden under pain of 
death. Everybody accused of black magic and found 
guilty according to the tests used in the country is exe- 
cuted, and the executioners eat his heart in retaliation. 
Often the blacks do not wait for legal proof to revenge 
themselves. Recently in a little village near Lagos an old 
woman was murdered with unheard-of cruelt}^ by a negro 
and negress w^ho accused her of being aje, and of having 
made the owl eat the hearts of their children. All the 
blacks were convinced that the old woman was a sorcerer, 
and this belief assured them they were justified in mur- 
dering her. 

Abiku. 

There is another genius, called Abiku, who, instead of 
perching on the trees, takes up his abode in the human 
body. Children who die between ten and eleven years 
of age are also called Abiku, and are never buried, but 
are throwm in the bushes. It is supposed that the child 
and the spirit are thus punished. 

There are great numbers of evil spirits called Abiku 
and Elere, who inhabit the forests and deserts, suffering 
want and having a great desire to share the good things 
enjoyed by mortals in this world. With this object they 
watch for the entrance of the soul into the body formed 
by Obatala. One of them at once installs himself therein, 
promising' the other spirits, his companions, to share with 
them the good things which he is about to enjoy in this 
world. 

When a child cries and suffers more than usual, the 
blacks believe that the spirits, companions of the one who 
is in the child, are hurting him in order to get more food. 
If the child grows thin and puny, it is because the evil 
spirits steal all the nourishment he takes. In order to 
cheat these spirits a sacrifice is offered to them, and while 



Fetichism. 5 7 

they are feasting- on the offering, little bells are placed on 
the feet of the child, the tinkling of which drives off the 
evil spirits and keeps them at a distance. It is not un- 
usual to see a little negro with his ankles loaded with little 
bells and pieces of old iron, an insupportable burden to 
the poor little child. 

If the child supposed to be haunted by an evil spirit 
becomes dangerously ill, the mother makes an incision in 
the body and puts spices in it, believing she will thus 
make the spirit suffer and force him to leave the child. 

If the child dies, the body is thrown on the dirt-heap to 
be devoured by wild beasts. The mother will often madly 
mutilate the corpse of the poor child, pound it with stones, 
cut off an arm or an ear, and threaten to beat the evil 
spirit,, calling him wretch, thief, etc. 

Belief in this error is still more strengthened by the 
fact that sometimes another child is born with the marks 
of the wounds made on the body of his elder brother, be- 
cause the image of them remains engraved in the memory 
of the mother ; but the blacks will not accept this expla- 
nation, and hold to their superstitions, which the fetich- 
priests have every interest in fostering. 

These evil spirits have great power over the bodies 
they possess. It is related, in illustration of this, that a 
woman was in the habit of leaving her infant on a mat 
in the cabin while she went to market, and although the 
door was locked all the food she left there disappeared. 
Moreover a neighboring peddler reclaimed from the 
mother the shells which she said her son had come to 
borrow from her. The negress showed her that the child 
sleeping on the mat was too young to walk. Neverthe- 
less the neighbor affirmed that she had seen him, a half- 
grown child, leave the house, come to her, take the shells, 
buy food, and then return to the house. To search into 
this mystery the father carefully concealed hitnself in the 
cabin. When the woman had gone out as usual, firmly 
fastening the door, the little child stood up, became sud- 



58 Fetichism. 

denl}' a big boy, searched about, found the shells, and was 
just going out, when the father appeared. At sight of 
him the rogue became again a little child, crying and sob- 
bing. Such are the ridiculous stories which circulate 
among the blacks and retain them in their superstitions. 

Ibeji. 

When a woman nas twin children, they are not killed at 
Porto-Novo, as is the practice at Benin, but the blacks 
think that these children have for companions genii simi- 
lar to those which animate a small species of monkey 
common in the forests of Guinea. When these children 
are grown they cannot eat the flesh of monkeys, and mean- 
while the mother makes offerings of bananas and other 
dainties to the monkeys to propitiate them. 

If one of the twins is ill, the mother consults the fetich- 
priest, who invariably commands her to make the cus- 
tomary sacrifice to the spirits, that they may leave the 
child in peace. The negress, with her basket well filled 
with wine, nuts, bananas, and other dainties loved by the 
spirits, goes with her companions to the fetich-priests to 
make her offerins:. It is laid at the foot of a tree ; the 
fetich-priest evokes the spirits, and Avhen they manifest 
their presence, all retire to allow them to eat in peace. 
Presently they return to see if the genii have found the 
offering to their taste. When everything has disappeared, 
it presages favorably for the health of the child. It is 
needless to say that the spirit who accepts the sacrifice is 
a spirit of flesh and blood, who, notified beforehand, con- 
ceals himself in a convenient place near b}'. 

The African Wind, and Genius of the Locusts. 

The genius of the African wind, called Oye, dwells with 
the genius of the locusts in the grand official temple of 
Elegba, chief of the evil genii. This palace is built on 
Mount Igbeti, near the banks of the Niger. Ever}' year 
the grand fetich-priests of Elegba open the great bronze 



Fetichism. 59 

doors of the temple, and offer a solemn sacrifice to all the 
ofenii and to their chief. Then the African wind rises and 
covers the earth ; the locusts take flight wherever the 
spirits impel them, then at command of the genius Oye 
the African wind and the locusts return to the temple. 

Genius of Togo. 

There is near Porto-Novo a lagoon called Togo, which 
has served as a legal test from the time of the ancient 
kings. It has lost much of its prestige in the present day, 
being replaced by Once. 

The test consists in conducting the accused to the mid- 
dle of the lagoon, to a spot known to the fetich-priest 
charged with this service. The accused is thrown into 
the water. If he float, he is taken into the canoe and de- 
clared innocent ; if he sink, the genius Togo is said to have 
killed him, and the next day his body is found near the 
bank, on a bamboo raft, where the god placed it. 

The following legend gives authority for this belief. A 
poor negress went to gather wood on the banks of the 
lagoon, to buy food for herself and her two children ; but 
notwithstanding all her efforts she Avith great difficulty 
maintained her unfortunate existence. She denied herself 
in all things for her pretty little negroes, who, ignorant 
of their mother's miseries, amused themselves on the 
banks of the lagoon. One day the negress missed her 
dear children. She went about inconsolable, seeking them 
everywhere, making the air resound with their names, 
but in vain. Time assuaged not her sorrow, and she came 
every day to weep on the banks of the lagoon. The genius 
of Togo was touched by her grief. One day, to her great 
astonishment, she saw her two children coming toward 
her, their bodies half above the water, and swimming hke 
fish. 

"Weep no more, mother,'* they said, ''for we are very 
happy here. The god of the lagoon had j^itv on thee, 
seeing thy difficulty in })roviding for us, and took us to 



6o Fetichism. 

his home, where we have fish and food in abundance. We 
are in a beautiful cottage under the waters. The fishes 
pla}^ around us, and every day is a feast. Go tell the king 
that the god of Togo wishes a temple to be built to him 
on the banks of the lagoon which he guards, and wishes 
that sacrifices be offered to him. The g(;d in return will 
make known to him the guilt or innocence of the accused 
in doubtful cases. For the accused who shall be thrown 
into the lagoon, if he be innocent, shall not drown ; but if 
guilty, he shall be dragged to the bottom of the lagoon, 
and his body cast upon the banks." 

Formerly the lagoons opened every year, and all went 
to offer presents and sacrifices to the gods and goddesses 
who came to amuse themselves in the magnificent dwelling 
of the god of the waters. From the lagoons they passed 
into the sea. Having danced and amused themselves to 
their heart's content, the men returned home, and the sea 
and the lagoons closed up again. But since untruth has 
come upon this earth, the sea and the lagoons no longer 
open ; the people must be content with offering sacrifice to 
the gods in the temples built to their honor on the banks 
of the waters. 

Another legend accuses a wicked king of Dahomey of 
having put a stop to the communications of mortals with 
immortals. All the gods and goddesses were assembled, 
dancing and amusing themselves, when the king ordered 
his amazons to seize the goddesses, carry them off to 
Abomey and enlist them in their regiment ; but as the 
amazons were about to seize the goddesses, they all dis- 
appeared, the divine dancers having changed themselves 
into drops of dew. Since that time this world has been 
deprived of seeing the immortals. 

Deified Power. 

Among the blacks of the Slave Coast power is deified. 
Kings are supposed to be descended from the demi-gods, 
and consecrated to them, and initiated in the secrets of 



Fetichism. 6 1 

the negro sanctuary. White is the official color of the first 
order of priests, and they wear white vestments. 

To facilitate the administration of justice, the blacks 
have from time immemorial made religion intervene 
under different names. They deify the executive power, 
and regard the judges and the executors of the law as 
supernatural beings and descendants of the gods. 

Judicial power is deified in Yorouba under the name 
of Egimgun (bones, or the dead). Egungun appears in the 
streets in the form of a demon masked and fantastically 
dressed, walking ridiculously, and uttering loud discord- 
ant sounds ; from time to time he changes the mask, some- 
times taking the face of a dog, at another that of a mon- 
key. Egungun is supposed to come from the other world 
to see what takes place in this, and to carry away with 
him all those who are disposed to trouble the living. 

When there is a death in the house, Egungun and his 
companions, equipped like himself, never fail to come and 
pay their respects to the relatives and bring them news of 
the deceased, assuring them that he is well, and that he 
has gone safely through the terrible passage and arrived 
without accident in the country of the dead. The chari- 
table Egungun and his satellites are loaded with presents 
and invited to rest; food, and above all a generous supply 
of rum or palm-wine, is placed in a room to which they 
retire, for it is death to look upon the dead while they are 
eating. Egungun and his companions, like the other black 
spirits, have good appetites ; when they have eaten to 
their satisfaction they depart, returning thanks in deep 
groans to the relatives of the dead, who charge them with 
messages for the dear deceased, and they indicate by re- 
newed groans that their commission shall be fulfilled. 

A criminal after he is condemned to death is given over 
to Egungun. He cuts off the head of the victim, with 
which he promenades through the streets of the city. The 
body is thrown into the bushes, and cannot receive burial 
unless it is bought by the relatives. No one has a right 



62 Fetichism. 

to raise his hand against Egungun, not even the king. As 
to the women, they are forbidden under pain of death to 
say what they think of him. 

Oro. 

Among the Egbas executive power is deified under the 
name of Oro (tempest). Under pain of death all women 
young and old are obliged to believe that Oro is a power- 
ful spirit who dwells in the firmament in company with 
many other genii. It goes without saying that only an 
exterior faith is required ; that is to say, the women must 
be silent about what they think. As to the men and boys, 
they know how much of it to believe. 

When a criminal is condemned to death he is handed 
over to Oro, who swallows him. The next day the clothes 
of the unfortunate wretch are seen floating on the top of 
a high tree, having been left there by Oro when reascend- 
ing through the air after having cut off all the branches' 
of the tree. Sometimes the formidable voices of Oro and 
his companions are suddenly heard resounding through the 
city ; this is to announce that the god is abroad, and then 
all the women under pain of death must shut themselves 
in their houses. Thus affairs may be arranged without 
the interminable chatter of the negresses. The terrible 
voice of Oro is a noise made by rapidly twirling a tongue 
of wood attached to a string. 

Oro on his feast-day appears in the shape of a monster 
in human form, with the face and lips besmeared with 
blood. His bellowing is heard in all the cities, and the 
blacks have great feasting in the grove of the god. 

Zangbeto. 

At Porto-Novo the sacred police go out only at night. 
They are called Zangbeto (the people of the night, who 
come from the other side of the sea). The functions of 
the police are the same as Oro and Egungun, only that 






Fetichis7n. 63 

they make a much more frightful racket; they miitate 
the noise of every kind of animal, with an accompaniment 
of an orchestra composed of all sorts of old iron which 
produces an indescribably infernal din. The spirit in 
coming from the other side of the sea assumes a ridicu- 
lous gait, and disguises himself in a large straw cone 
which covers him from head to foot. No one dares to 
venture out under pain of being severely flogged. At the 
time of the '' Customs," when they immolate human 
victims, the rash mortal, who ventures out exposes himself 
to be sold as a slave or offered in sacrifice. 

Ogboni. 

There exists among the blacks a secret society, the 
members of which are very numerous in Yorouba and 
are called Ogboni. This sort of freemasonry seems to 
have for object the preservation of the ancient tradi- 
tions, and especially the religious customs of negro pa- 
ganism. This will be later a terrible barrier to civiliza- 
tion. 

Among the Egbas, who form a sort of quasi-republic, 
the Ogboni are more powerful than the khig. Nearly 
all the lawsuits are evoked by this tribunal. 

The members recognize one another by different signs, 
principally by the manner of shaking hands. Death, and 
a cruel death, is the penalty for betraying the secrets of 
the society. The culprit as soon as he is judged is mys- 
teriously condemned and shut in a narrow room; two 
holes arc made in the wall a little distance apart, through 
which the victim's legs are drawn ; the feet arc firmly 
fastened to two stakes, then with a sword the flesh is 
slowly scray:)cd from the thighs to the bone, and he thus 
dies in horrible torture. 

The lodge where the meetings of the Ogboni are held 
is forbidden to those who are not members. From whnt 
I have been able to learn, this society is simj^h an insii. 



64 Fetzcktsm. 

tution similar to the secret societies of the pagan people 
of ancient times, where the members were initiated into 
the infamous mysteries of the good goddess. The di- 
vinity of the Ogboni is lie (the earth), one of the names 
of Odudua the great goddess of the blacks, who also 
has her rites and orgies in her official temple in the city 
of Ado. 

Manes. 

The blacks believe firmly in the immortality of the 
soul; hence their funerals are affairs of much more im- 
portance, and occasion much more expense, than a birth 
or a marriage. The disgrace of not having proper funeral 
ceremonies is such that often when a family has not the 
means necessary to defray the expense of a grand funeral 
the body of the deceased is wrapped in mats and pre- 
served with aromatic plants in some secret place in the 
house ; there is no mourning or wailing or weeping, but 
the family set to work to procure the required sum. 
When everything is read}', the}^ suddenly break forth 
in loud sobbing and weeping as if the deceased had just 
rendered up his soul, and they proceed to bury the mum- 
my. Others pawn their children to procure the means 
necessary for the funeral, and the children remain in 
slavery until they are bought again b}' paying the price 
stipulated. 

The blacks believe that those who receive the honors 
of sepulture arrive safely in the countr}^ of the dead, 
called ortin rere (the good heaven), which, according to 
general opinion, is situated directly under this world, so 
that the dead and the living may hold communication 
with one another. There the dead lead an existence 
very similar to our own, except that it is much sadder. 
Those who were slaves in this world remain so in the 
next ; and those who were kings here are also kings here-' 
after. The}' have the same wants and the same likes that 
they had when living. Those who die without paying 



Fetichisin. 65 . 

their debts cannot receive funeral honors unless the credi- 
tor consents to it. The body is placed on a wicker bier 
outside the city, and the relatives cannot bury it until they 
pay what he owed. 

The bodies of great criminals are treated in the same 
way. They are placed on a bier outside the walls, and 
if the parents or relatives wish to bury them they have 
to buy the body. 

When any one dies away from his country, the rela- 
tives do everything in their power to procure something 
that belonged to the deceased, no matter how small it 
may be, — a piece of his nails or of his clothing, or some of 
the hair,— and over these objects the funeral rites are per- 
formed, so great in their estimation is the necessity of 
funeral ceremonies ; for those who do not receive fune- 
ral honors cannot go to the country of the dead, but 
are obliged to roam about in this world, exposed to the 
danger of being carried off by evil spirits, who cruelly 
maltreat them and cast them into the great fiery furnace 
called orun-apadi (the heaven of potsherds) ; that is, a 
place resembling the furnaces in which the blacks bake 
their pottery, a place covered with coal and the debris 
of the vases broken in the baking. The principal accom- 
paniment of capital punishment is privation of burial. 
The greatest criminal has no fear of the next world if he 
is sure of funeral honors ; for the negro has no con- 
science ; with him all the wrong consists in being found 
out; he fears only temporal punishment, but above all 
being deprived of burial. 

For information of a cherished relative and of his fate 
in the other world they apply to the fetich-priest, who 
takes a little child, bathes his face with lustral water, 
makes a sacrifice in a new vessel, and goes at midnight 
to the large park of the city or village, where he digs a 
hole in the ground, into which the child looks. Through 
this hole the child sees the dead under the earth, ob- 
serves all that they do and sa}^ and reports it to the 



66 Fetich 



ism. 



fetich-priest. The priest, when he has learned all that 
he wishes to know, bathes the child's eyes with sacred 
water, and he immediately forgets all that he has seen 
and heard. This shows the skill with which the fetich- 
priests take advantage of the credulit}^ of the blacks. 
Generally the dead are consulted by sacrifices and offer- 
ings made on their tombs. 

Metempsychosis. 

The blacks believe that the dead often return to this 
world and are born again. I saw a child whose mother 
dared not punish it, and submitted to all its caprices, 
because the fetich-priest declared on the day of its birth 
that it was the grandfather of the mother, who had re- 
turned to this world. 

At Whydah an infant who had been born with teeth 
was thrown into the lagoon, the fetich-priests having 
declared that the child was the father of the reigning king, 
who had come back to earth. The king obliged his father 
to return to the dead. 

While I was living in Porto-Novo I heard of a Nago 
killed in the war who returned, they said, and was born 
again of his own wife. The child bore on his forehead 
the mark of the ball that had killed his father ; the mother 
affirmed that it was exacth' in the same place where his 
father was struck. 

Metamor pilosis. 

Of the numerous legends proving the negroes' behef in 
metamorphosis, I shall only cite two. 

Buje. 

Formerly there lived a negress named Buje, remarkable 
for her jet-black skin. She was sought in marriage by 
all the princes and men of wealth, but she treated all with 
equal disdain. One day one of the ugliest and most 



Fe He his 771, 67 

hideous of the negroes adroitly enticed her into his house 
and spread abroad the report that she had accepted him 
as her husband. Everybody beUeved it, and notwith- 
standing the belle's protestations to the contrary, she did 
not escape their raillery. She fled to the woods, and such 
was the violence of her chagrin, she was changed into a 
pretty little shrub which bears her name and which is 
used by the women to give their skin that ebony color 
which is considered the perfection of beauty. 

A poor negress had two children whom she tenderly 
loved. She went every day to the forest to gather wood, 
which she sold to buy them food. One day they were 
all three lost in the forest ; they walked a long time, but 
could not find the road. Overcome by hunger, thirst, and 
fatigue, they could go no farther and were obliged to rest. 
They stretched themselves on the ground crying and la- 
menting, and begging their mother for water. The mother 
having searched everywhere for the water returned to 
her children, whom she found almost dead. In her grief 
she addressed herself to Olorun Olodumare, the all-power- 
ful god, who heard her prayer. The mother, lying near 
her two sons, was changed into a large lagoon in which 
the two children quenched their thirst. Afterward they 
came and established themselves in this place and gave to 
the lagoon their mother's name, Odo-Iycwa (the lagoon 
of lyewa, which is situated not far from Okiadan). 



6S Fetichism. 



IV. ZOOLATRY, OR ADORATION OF AxiMAL?. 

To the worship of the gods and the genii, the blacks 

join that of sacred animals. Each god has his favorite ani- 
mal which is dedicated to him and serves him as messenger. 
All the time that thev are in the service of the god the 
sacred animals are animated and directed bv some in- 
ferior genius. For instance, the crocodile is consecrated 
to Osun, the wife of Chango. But all crocodiles are not 
sacred ; only those designated bv the fetich-priests as 
having the marks bj which thev are recognized as the 
official messenorers of the sfoddess. 

All animals may become sacred and be used as divine 
messengers. Some deformitv or something unusual in 
an animal suffices to have it declared a fetich by the fetich- 
priests. This costs them nothing, but rather redounds to 
their proht. 

Mepon atid his Ox. 

An ox which I presented to Mepon. the king of Porto- 
No vo» soon became his favorite. Every day the king 
gave him a small ration of acacia, and the animal never 
failed to come each day for his accustomed pittance. On 
market-days he went about among the crowds of negroes, 
never hurting anybody, and the king's favorite soon be- 
came the favorite of all. When Mepon died, the ox came 
as usual for his ration : but not finding his master, he began 
to bellow. The fetich-priests, understanding the cause of 
this, concluded that the genius of Mepon had passed into 
the animal. From that time it was forbidden to molest 
him : he was allowed to go wherever he pleased, and he 
never failed, especially on market-days, to take his usual 
walk. When he died, in 18S3. the king had him wrapped 
in cloths and rendered him full funeral honors. Accord- 



Fetichism. 69 

ing to custom, drums, gunguns, and every instrument 
capable of making a noise was brought into requisition, 
the blood of sacrifices and libations of palm-oil flowed in 
honor of the new fetich, while libations of rum were 
squandered to the great satisfaction of his adorers. Then 
the ox, followed by a cortege of fetich-priests and priest- 
esses and the populace, was carried in great state on the 
shoulders of the negroes, and laid in the grave destined 
for his reception. He was besprinkled for the last time 
with the blood of the victims immolated at the tomb, and 
all was ended. The manes of Mepon ought to have been 
satisfied. 

The multiplicity of the negro gods and goddesses shows 
us to what extent the idea of the divinity is adulterated 
among their disciples. Their adorers attribute to them 
marriage and posterity ; they invest them with the tastes, 
the wants, and all the weaknesses and vices of humanity. 
There are wicked gods, drunkards, adulterous gods, liars, 
thieves, deformed and grotesque gods. There is no crime, 
debauch, or cruelty which their history does not contain. 
Thus the unfortunate negro, instead of finding in his 
religious beliefs a means of regeneration, sees therein 
examples and motives of perversion. The same corrupt- 
ing influence is met with in their practices of worship, 
which is naturally in accordance with^the divinities to 
whom they address themselves. 



PART SECOND 



FETICH-PRIESTHOOD; 



OR, 



RELIGIOUS MINISTERS OF THE NEGROES OF 

GUINEA. 



There are four orders of the fetich-priesthood, forming 
a hierarchy at the head of which is the king, who on the 
day of his consecration is initiated in all the m3steries of 
the negro sanctuary. 

He then receives his new name. White is the official 
color of the vestments. His title as the religious chief is 
Ekeji OricJia (first after the fetiches). In Yorouba the 
chief of the Ogboni tries to take the place of the king in 
religious power. At Dahomey and Porto-Novo the king 
is all-powerful as long as he respects the national customs. 
He convokes councils of the fetich-priests on all extraor- 
dinary occasions, and is the judge who decides in all 
extreme cases. 

In the reign of Mesi, predecessor of Tofa, the present 
king of Porto-Novo, the fetich-priests wished to burn 
alive a young man who had by mistake killed a sacred 
serpent. According to custom, the sentence was to have 
been executed in a hut made of palm-branches covered 
with dried herbs prepared for this purpose. Everything 
was ready for the signal vengeance of the fetich ; the fatal 



72 Fe tic hum. 

cabin was arranged, and the unfortunate negro, more dead 
than alive, was shut up in a fetich-hut awaiting his fate. 
On the eve of the execution, by some unknown means, but 
thanks no doubt to some of his relatives, the prisoner 
succeeded in escaping, and fled to Porto-Novo, where he 
offered his head to the king ; that is, placed himself under 
his protection by constituting himself his slave. The 
next morning, to their great despair, the fetich-priests 
found the hut empty; but soon learning the fugitive's 
place of retreat, they all went like a band of furies to 
summon the king to deliver him up to them. The king, 
moved by the youth of the unfortunate culprit who had un- 
intentionally killed the crawling god, wished to save him. 
He proposed to the fetich-priests to punish him and im- 
pose on him a heavy fine, but to remit the punishment of 
being burned alive, which he did not deserve. The fetich- 
priests would listen to nothing : justice must be done that 
the fetich might be revenged, and the death of the ser- 
pent must be expiated by that of the sacrilegious mur- 
derer. 

Seeing that the king refused to deliver him up to them, 
they began to raise a frightful tumult : fetich priests and 
priestesses, wrapped in the most fantastic garb, some with 
their faces painted in red and white, others with feathers 
in their hair, or, according to their fancy or caprice, 
tatooed and smeared in such a manner as to render their 
appearance hideous, began to rush through the city 
crying vengeance and acting like creatures possessed. 
Then they returned to the palace, renewed their cries and 
vociferations, jostling the passers-by and striking terror 
everywhere, so that the market could not be held as 
usual. 

The khig, seeing his authority despised, summoned the 
Zangbeto (the police) ; then he notified all the fetich- 
priests to assemble the next morning in the great market- 
place to receive satisfaction. At an appointed hour the 
king had the gongs sounded, at which signal the 



• Fetichisfn. ']'7^ 

Zangbeto, who had secretly assembled in the palace dur- 
ing the night, rushed in a body on the fetich priests and 
priestesses who took flight ; but a great number of them 
were seized, enchained, and sold as slaves to the profit of 
the Zangbeto. Some time afterward Mesi died. It was 
generally supposed that he was poisoned ; but he had 
made his authority as chief of the fetich-priests respected. 

First Order, 

After the king, the first sacerdotal order is the order of 
the Babalawo (the father who has the plate) ; they are also 
called interpreters of Ifa. Although Ifa is the third in 
rank of the superior gods, his priests form the first order 
of the hierarchy. They have two supreme chiefs : the 
first resides at Ifa, the sacred city of the blacks, and the 
other at Ika in Yorouba. 

The office of Babalawo is to consult the fetiches, and to 
indicate what must be done to appease the gods and 
render them favorable, especially on important occasions, 
such as in war or during epidemics. They also watch 
over the worship of Ifa. 

To this same order, but in an inferior rank, belong the 
Adahonche, whose office is the practice of medicine. 
Their medicaments are made with vegetables, to the 
preparation of which is added a thousand fantastical 
ceremonies to increase their value \\\ the eyes of the 
negro. Besides Ifa, their divinities are Ochosin and 
Oroni, gods of medicine. To the first order are also 
attached the fetich-priests of Obatala and Odudua, who 
watch over the worship of these two divinities. 

The insignia of the first order are white clothes, 
shaved head, a necklace of white pearls, and a cow's tail. 

Second Order. 

The second order is that of Onichango ; that is, priests 
of Cliango, the god of lightning. Their chief calls him- 
self Magba (he who receives). He has twelve assistants : 



74 FcticJiisni. 

the first calls himself Oton (the right arm) ; the second, 
Osi7i (the left arm) ; the third, Eketu ; the fourth, Ekeri?t, 
etc. 

The chief and his assistants live at Oyo, very near 
Ikoso, where Chango descended alive into the earth and 
where his most honored sanctuary is situated. Their 
office is to watch over the worship of Chango. Their 
insignia is a bag, the emblem of pillage, which they wear 
in memory of the brigandage of their master. 

To this order are attached all the fetich priests and 
priestesses of the lesser gods and goddesses, such as the 
god of the sea, of small-pox, of the lagoons,, of the Niger, 
etc. The colors red and white designate the second 
order. The members shave the crown of the head, leav- 
ing the rest of the hair to grow, so that they look as if 
they wore a cap of black sheep-skin with the hairy side 
out. Sometimes they show considerable vanity in their 
head-dress: they wear a red and white striped cap, and 
arrange their hair in little braids after the manner of the 
women of certain countries. 

Third Order. 

The third order is that of Oricha Oko, the god of agri- 
culture and of the men who have become fetiches. They 
devote themselves to white magic. Those who are ad- 
dicted to black magic are not generally tolerated. They 
conceal themselves, and naturally have no particular in- 
signia. 

ConsccratiGii and Affiliation. 

The priesthood of the false gods is hereditarv in the 
family, the father being replaced by a member of the 
family. Others may be introduced into the corps of 
fetich-priests, but they have to pay dearly for the honor. 
The aspirants have to submit to an initiation of several 
years, which they must complete in a special college. 
The college of Chango for girls was established in a 



Fetichism. 75 

fetich-grove near our residence at Porto-Novo. Every 
morning- before sunrise and every evening at sunset the 
aspirants were heard singing in choir, directed by an old 
fetich-priestess. Incommoded by being in our neighbor- 
hood, the college moved elsewhere. 

The ceremonies of consecration of a fetich-priest last 
several days. The principal ones are the arrangement 
of the crinkled hair, which is completely shaved off of 
some and only from the crown of the head of others, the 
aspersion of lustral water, the imposition of the new name, 
of the new vestments, etc. 

Besides this so-called consecration, there exists a sort 
of affiliation. Instead of the general jurisdiction of the 
fetich-priests, those who are affiliated are charged with 
the service of one god, but only in his special abode. 
The ceremonies of consecration and affiliation are very 
similar. We will only describe those of affiliation, which 
vary a little according to the fetich to which the candi- 
date is consecrated, although identical in all the essential 
points. The candidate is generally a child, a boy or girl 
of from eight to fifteen years. As affiliation is expensive, 
very few can aspire to it. When the child's mother has 
saved money enough to purchase tlie happiness of seeing 
her son affiliated, she goes early in the morning to a fetich- 
priest, who with a band of his brothers goes in solemn 
procession to a fetich-grove. They begin by offering 
sacrifices to the gods to whom the aspirant for affiliation 
wishes to be consecrated. When the gods have break- 
fasted, the neophyte's head is shaved, he is stripped of 
his clothes, and bathed with a decoction of a hundred 
and one plants (there must be exactly this number) ; his 
loins are girt with a young palm-branch, and he accom- 
panies the fetich-priests in procession around the sacred 
grove. During this procession the assistants remain 
prostrate with their faces to the ground. 

When they re-enter the grove the neophyte is vested in 
his new clothes. Then the principal ceremony takes 



76 Fetichtsm, 

place. This is to ascertain if the fetich accepts the new 
priest proposed to him : this acceptance is an indis- 
pensable condition. He is consulted thus : The neophyte 
is seated in the fetich-chair, the priests bathe his head 
anew with the concoction of herbs and invoke the fetich. 
This ceremony is repeated three times; they at the same 
time dance and jump around the neophj-te, making a 
deafening noise with drums and all sorts of old iron. 
Among the blacks nothing is done without music, and the 
more infernal the din and racket the more solemn the 
feast. 

At the third invocation the neophyte begins to twitch, 
his whole body trembles, and his eyes become haggard ; 
soon he becomes so violent that it is often necessary to 
hold or tie him to prevent his injuring himself or others. 
Then all the priests and all persons present hail the fetich 
with loud joyful cries of Oricha 6 ! (" It is the fetich.") 
Oricha gun 6 ! (" He is possessed by the fetich.") Final!}', 
after several hours of frenzied tumult, the fetich retires 
from him, and he immediately returns to his senses. His 
violent frenzy suddenly ceases, and is followed by extreme 
prostration and lassitude. Some remain for quite a time 
as immovable as if dead. The fetich-priests and the as- 
sistants have the flesh of the victims cooked ; then follows 
a great feast in the fetich-grove. When they have thor- 
oughlv fortified themselves, the person just affiliated is 
conducted with dancing and singing to a fetich-hut, where 
he must remain for seven days in the company of the god 
of whom he is supposed to have become the happy spouse : 
during this time he is forbidden to speak. When the ap- 
pointed period has elapsed, the fetich-priests open his 
mouth, thus giving him permission to speak; they bestow 
upon him a new name, and the parents deposit shells at 
the foot of the fetich-idol, saying, " I buy back my son." 
They make some more sacrifices, and the fetich-priest 
learns at the initiation what things are allowed him and 
what are forbidden. 



Fetichism, 79 

These things vary according to the fetich ; some, for ex- 
ample, are forbidden to eat mutton, others to drmk palm- 
wine. Finally the fetich-priest teaches the neophyte the 
ceremonial to be observed in the worship of the fetich to 
which he is henceforth consecrated, and installs the symbol 
of the fetich in the neophyte's cabin. The person affiliated 
is supposed to belong to the family of the fetich-priest 
who initiates him ; he cannot marry a member of this 
family, and he also becomes the heir of the fetich-priest 
should he die without children. 

At the moment of the important test, if the neophyte 
is not possessed by the fetich, they conclude that he does 
not wish to accept him, and then there is no initiation. 
The pagan mother of one of our baptized children, about 
eight years old, wished to have her child initiated with- 
out the knowledge of the father, who was a Christian. 
The child would not consent to it, and resisted the ca- 
resses, threats, and blows of the mother and the fetich- 
priests. The priests forced him into the sacred seat of 
Chango and tried their incantations, but to no effect; the 
fetish did not come ; and they were obliged to leave the 
child in peace. 

The fetich-priests are neither loved nor esteemed ; but 
they are terribly feared. Their person is sacred ; and if 
a layman has the audacity to strike a fetigh-priest he is 
severely punished. Lately the wife of one of our Christians 
reclaimed a sum which a neighboring fetich-priestess owed 
her. She refused to pay it. A quarrel ensued, and the 
priestess received a blow. She immediately raised a great 
cry ; her sponsors the fetich-priests ran to her, and she 
told them of the sacrilege committed on her person. 
They all began to howl, and seizing the poor culprit, they 
put her in chains, beat her, and shut her up in a fetich- 
hut. Her husband and relatives had to pay a heavy fine 
for her release. 

The higher order of fetich-priests can live on the rev- 
enues of their office, but the others, who arc very numer- 



8o Fetichisni. 

ous do not realize enough from their functions and are 
obliged to engage in divers trades. 

In character the fetich-priest is a contemptible creature : 
deceitful, lazy, hypocritical, impure, and an arrant thief. 
He is generally very dirty, his clothes ridiculous and 
ragged; and those who steep their hands in human blood 
have a beastly, ferocious, and repellent appearance. 

Beliefs of the Fetich-Priests, 

The great or chief fetich-priests have a secret doctrine 
which differs greatly from the popular doctrine. In this 
secret doctrine they gradually initiate the priests of the 
lower ranks. These are the secrets of divers legal tests, 
such as Once, the test of the lagoon and that of Togo, and 
also the medical receipts, especially those for poisons. I 
do not believe there exist in the world more skilful poison- 
ers. They preserve these receipts with great care, and 
much of the information contained in this work was only 
acquired by gaining the confidence of some old fetich- 
priest, principally by means of presents which not only 
strengthen friendship but are often powerful in loosening 
the tongue. As for the gods and goddesses, with their 
ridiculous legends, the great fetich-priests have no faith 
in them whatever. They despise the absurd beliefs and 
puerile practices which they foster in the people and 
even among the lower ranks of fetich-priests. They have 
no idea of the creation ; and their idea of God, although 
vague and obscure, represents Him as the director and 
master of the universe. They believe in spirits, and are 
strengthened in this behef by the practices of magnetism 
and spiritualism. Nevertheless they have many supersti- 
tious customs which are no less ridiculous than those of 
the people. 

The blacks are convinced that the different divinities 
inhabit, govern, and move the different parts of the uni- 
verse in which they are incorporated, and which in 



Fetichism. 8 1 

obedience to their will produce good or ill and dispense 
the blessings or evils of nature. They conclude from this 
they must adore them, and offer them their vows and 
prayers. This worship rendered to their fetiches is abso- 
lute, for each god is considered to be a perfectly inde- 
pendent power in his domain ; in his own sphere he may 
act according to his fancy. Chango, for example, thun- 
ders when he pleases; Elegba likewise perpetrates all the 
mischief that comes to his mind without consulting any 
one. 

The fetich-priests have sometimes been compared to 
the saints whom Catholics invoke as mediators between 
God and man. This reproach may seem true to some 
Protestants, but it shows absolute ignorance of the sub- 
ject. Nowhere among the blacks is there found a single 
example of a worship subordinate to a superior Being. 
They have not even the most remote idea of it. 

The blacks not only adore the fetiches in the physical 
objects which they are supposed to inhabit and animate, 
as the sea, the streams, lagoons, animals, and trees, but 
they adore them also in the statues and the symbols 
which represent them and which are consecrated to 
them. They believe that the fetich-priests possess the art 
and power of intimately uniting the gods and genii to 
the material objects, and these objects once designated 
by religious ceremonies become like bodies animated by 
the gods with life and with sufficient power to predict 
the future, inflict maladies, excite the passions, do good 
or harm according to the will and pleasure of those who 
invoke them. 

This, as may be seen, is far from resembling the hom- 
age rendered to the images of the saints, for Catliolics 
have no idea of adoring animal matter. The blacks do 
not adore the stone, the tree, or the river, but the spirit 
which they believe dwells in them. During the first 
years of my sojourn on the Slave Coast, our neighbor the 
great fetich-priest of the thunder died, and a.l his fetiches 



82 Fetichism. 

were thrown out of the house as so many useless objects. 
I asked the negroes why they treated their gods thus ; 
but they assured me that the gods were no longer in the 
fetiches. I inquired if the gods would not remain in the 
family under the care of one of the sons of the deceased, 
they replied they had gone with their servant the king. 
Therefore all the statues and other symbols of the gods, 
henceforth useless, had been thrown out. 



Idols. 

The statues and symbols of the gods are, according to 
the divinities they represent, statues of monsters, ridicu- 
lous objects, figures of birds, of reptiles or other animals ; 
and these images, often shameful and scandalous, are in 
everybody's hands, in all the temples, houses, and public 
places, as well as along the roads. The indecent statue of 
Elegba is to be seen at the door of every house. 



Temples. 

A small cave, generally round in form, rarely square, 
built of potter's clay with a straw roof, painted on the 
inside in the color of the god to whom it is dedi- 
cated, very narrow and so low that the fetich-priest has to 
stoop very low in entering : such is the fetich-temple. 

Grotesque statues and other symbols of the god, with 
dishes and earthen pots to receive the libations and offer- 
ings, all horribly smeared with palm-oil, blood, and chicken- 
feathers, form a mixture anything but agreeable to the 
sight, and still less so to the sense of smell, but worthy 
in every respect of the ceremonies of worship of the 
ragged fetich-priests and of the ignoble fetiches. What a 
contrast these uncleanly little huts present to the long 
spacious avenues shaded by magnificent trees which gen- 
erally shelter them ! 



Fetichism, 83 

Besides these public temples most of the negroes have 
also at home their fetich-huts, sometimes kept quite 
clean, but always with the same style of idols, modelled 
on the ugliest type of negro, with thick lips, fiat nose, re- 
ceeding chin — a perfect face of an old monkey. 



Groves. 

Besides the temples in their beautiful shady squares, 
the blacks also dedicate to the worship of the false gods 
charming groves outside the city. Thither they all 
go in procession and revel in the dance in the open air 
under the cool shade of magnificent trees, the thick foli- 
age of which shelters them from the burning rays of the 
tropical sun. In the middle of the sacred grove, in the 
midst of thick verdure, several bombax-trees spread their 
enormous trunks and grow to an immense height, superb 
giants stretching out their enormous branches, densely 
covered with leaves, like an immense parasol. In the 
centre of the grove are several small fetich-huts ; a 
girdle of thorny trees encircles the grove itself, and leaves 
from the palm of Ifa scattered about indicate that the 
place is forbidden to the laity. 



Talisman. 

The blacks wear as ornaments, or as fetich-objects, neck- 
laces, bracelets, and rings, the color of which indicates 
the god they serve. They have also either on their 
person or in their houses amulets or charms which 
they call " medicines." A piece of wood, a leaf, a bead, a 
tooth, an animal's claw, a bone, bird's feathers, all may 
serve as amulets ; and the blacks have great faith in these 
things with which the fetich-priests furnish them, but 
by no means gratuitously. 

An old fetich-priest of the Slave Coast was boasting of 



84 Fetichism. 

the power of a talisman which he had made, saying that 
armed with his medicine he had no fear of anything ; noth- 
ing could harm him — ball, sword, or knife. As I laughed 
at him and his panacea before the negroes who were pres- 
ent, he challenged me to harm him. It was easy to test 
his invulnerabilit}'. I sent him to get his talisman, and 
he soon returned, followed by a crowd of negroes hurrying 
to witness the encounter between the black and the white 
priest. The Brother doctor brought his lancet ; the fetich- 
priest, with his famous medicine in his mouth, advanced 
swaggeringly and presented his arm without flinching to 
the Brother, who with a light touch of the knife made a 
slight gash. At sight of the blood which flowed, the poor 
fetich-priest remained glued to the spot, his ugly face, 
which could not blush, making frightful grimaces. All the 
negroes present shouted, assailing with an avalanche of 
raillery the poor fetich-priest, who, covered with confu- 
sion, hurried away with the Brother to the pharmacy to 
have his wound dressed. When he returned he had 
already recovered his assurance, and was prepared with a 
subterfuge. This medicine, made for the blacks, said he, 
has no efficacy against the white people. I immediately 
called a negro and asked him to bleed the old sorcerer on 
the other arm. This time he did not await the test, but 
fled, followed by the shouts of the spectators. 

Sometimes merchandise may be seen deposited along the 
side of the most frequented roads with a sign designating 
the price of it ; for example, a basket of bananas, on which 
are placed a certain number of shells, indicating the price 
of one banana. The vender leaves his merchandise there in 
perfect security ; for beside it he has taken care to place 
a fetich-object, charged to guard it. No negro would 
have the audacity to touch it without leaving in its place 
the sum designated, for by so doing he would draw upon 
himself a terrible malediction. This custom is very advan- 
tageous for the vender as well as the purchaser. 

There is a great difference between the talisman charms 



1 
I 



Fetichism. 85 

or amulets and the animals and sacred trees. These are 
regarded as being possessed — that is to say, as the abode of 
a spirit ; while the talismans are objects to which the gods 
have attached a special virtue which is thereafter inherent 
in the talisman, which of itself produces the effect, as 
brandy for example produces drunkenness. The fetich- 
priests claim to have the art of composing these talismans, 
and make them a source of great profit to themselves. 
Although these articles very often fail in their effects, the 
blacks have the greatest faith m them, and always find 
some good excuse for the inefficacy of the talisman. 

The M^gan, the great executor of important works and 
first minister of Porto-Novo, possesses a collection of 
talismans of another kind. The walls of his house are en- 
tirely covered with human jaws to protect him against 
ghosts. Every time he executes a criminal or immolates 
a human victim, the old executioner keeps the jaw, which 
he hangs up in his house. Without this precaution this 
just man's sleep would be disturbed b}^ the dead coming, 
weeping and wailing, and knocking at his door. 

Ceremonies of Worship, 

Sacrifices are the most essential part of the worship. 
On all occasions, even the most unimportant, nothing is 
ever done without consulting the gods by immolating 
victims to them. 

Every five days the fetich-hut is swept, and a supply of 
fresh water and provisions, which are invariably sprinkled 
with palm-oil, are placed before the idol. Similar offer- 
ings, more or less generous, may be renewed each day, 
according to the devotion of the negn)- who seeks to 
ingratiate himself in the favor of the fetich. 

On solemn occasions the fetich-priest is consulted and 
directs the sacrifice. He designates the victim, which 
must be pure, to offer to the fetich, for each fetich has 
his pure and impure animals. While the blacks kneel, he 



Fetichism. 

presents to the idol the suppliant's request thus : "■ Be- 
hold the victim they offer thee ; listen to their prayer ; 
may they be in peace," etc. The more eloquent the fetich- 
priest is — the sweeter his tongue, as the negroes say — the 
more he is in demand. He then immolates the victim and 
pours a little of the blood on the idol ; the head and intes- 
tines are placed in an earthen dish, which they deposit in 
front of the fetich-hut, with an accompaniment of a sort 
of infernal music impossible to describe. The fetich- 
priestesses, under the direction of some of the fetich- 
priests, jump about like a band of furies, executing a 
dance around the musicians with lascivious and ridiculous 
movements. Fro-m time to time they stir up the sacred 
fire by copious libations o£ brandy, and song and dance 
succeed each other with a frantic frenzy of which it is 
impossible to give an idea. The blacks come in great 
numbers from every direction and crowd around the 
musicians and dancers ; even the children dance with 
delight. 

After a day and night of this tumult of mad folly, all 
stop to rest and sleep. When they have danced for a 
time in one place, they go and begin the same scene in 
another; and this lasts four, six, nine days, and some- 
times longer. There are several feasts of this kind dur- 
ing the year, but the principal one, which is called Odun 
(the year), is celebrated about the first of October. 



Human Sacrifices. 

Ugun, the terrible god of war, is not satisfied with the 
blood of animals, but like the dreaded Elegba must be 
appeased with human blood. In wars and public calami- 
ties, human victims alone can satisfy the angry gods. 

Human sacrifices are generally offered in the night. 
No one is allowed to leave the house. '' The night is 
bad," the blacks say. The sound of the drum and the 
dismal chants of the fetich-priests alone indicate that 



Fetichism. 8 7 

human blood is about to be shed before the idols. The 
victim is gagged, and his head is cut off in such a way as 
to allow the blood to gush forth on the idol ; then the 
body is dragged along the ground and thrown into a 
ditch or into the bushes. But first the fetich-priest opens 
the breast and takes out the heart, which he keeps and 
has dried to make talismans, and also to give courage 
to the combatants in war. The heart when dried is re- 
duced to powder and mixed with brandy, a ration of 
which is given by each chief to his men. 

If the sacrifice is offered to the lagoon or the sea, the 
body is thrown into the water. For the evil spirits like 
Elegba the body is opened, the entrails placed before the 
idol, and the body suspended in front of the fetich, where 
it is left to putrify and fall to pieces. I have sometimes 
seen these bodies on the roadside, and have been obliged 
to go out of my way to escape the infectious odor they 
exhale. 

These human sacrifices are offered for different reasons. 
One day, for example, a prince of the forest being ill con- 
sulted Ifa. The answer was that the illness came from 
an angry spirit. When consulted again, Ifa replied that 
the illness would not cease until a human victim had been 
offered to the spirit, and the victim was immolated. 

Another prince, at war with Porto-Novo, seeing that his 
soldiers lost courage, had recourse to his fetiches, who 
recommended to him a powerful charm. To compose 
this, a little child was carried off, while the mother, a 
young slave, went to draw water. The child was thrown 
alive into a mortar and pounded to death, and the fetich- 
priest made charms of it for the prince and his soldiers. 

Birth. 

At the birth of a child, a fetich-priestess takes care of 
the mother and the child. On the ninth day (for a boy), 
or on the seventh day (for a girl), a fetich-priest of Ifa is 



88 Fetichism, 

called, who kills a hen and a cock in honor of Ifa, and of 
the good genius of the head of the child. The entrails of 
the fowl are sprinkled with palm-oil, and are carried as 
usual to Elegba to prevent his coming to disturb the cere- 
mony. This done, they take the fresh water which is 
renewed every five days and placed before the fetiches, 
and throw it on the roof of the cabin, and the mother, 
carrying her infant, comes out and passes with the child 
three times under the water which falls from the roof. 

The fetich-priest then makes the lustral water, which he 
prepares with snails and vegetable butter. If the circum- 
stances of the birth did not indicate the fetich who took 
the child under his protection at his coming into the 
world, they consult Ifa, who makes it known. After this 
the fetich-priest bathes the forehead of the child with lus- 
tral water, repeating three times the name the parents 
wish to give it ; then he makes the child's feet touch the 
earth. 

They sweep and clean the cabin, take away the fire and 
ashes, and when all this is done they make a fresh fire. A 
sacrifice to Ifa, followed by a feast, terminates the cere- 
mony. 

Forty days after this the mother shaves her head, 
makes her toilet, and pays a visit to the fetich-priestess 
who attended her, and offers with her a small sacrifice to 
the fetich of the child. She goes afterw^ards to visit her 
relatives, and after that day she returns to her usual 
occupations. 



Marriage. 

Before marriage the first thing to be done is to consult 
Ifa to know if the marriage may take place, and if it will 
be happy. If the answer is in the affirmative, the cere- 
mony is decided upon. On the appointed day sacrifice 
is again offered to Ifa, and the two who are betrothed con- 




A FETICH-DOCTOR PRESENTING IIIS DIPLOMA TO REV, 1 ATIIKU HAt'lUN. 



Fetichism, 9 1 

sume at the wedding repast the viands offered to the idol. 
They eat, drink, and amuse themselves until midnight. The 
bride is then conducted by her companions to the nuptial 
cabin, where the husband soon follows, and all the others 
withdraw. If the bride is not found worthy of her black 
husband, she is punished and sent away ; he must then re- 
turn her dower and the presents, at least until the affair 
can be arranged. If, on the contrary, she is agreeable, the 
mother is complimented and receives a present of white 
porcelain shells. Finally the old women present the bride 
with kitchen utensils. The mother explains to her son- 
in-law the character of her daughter, how and on what 
occasions he must correct her, and, in general, the manner 
in which he must treat her. 



Funerals, 

The moment a negro dies, the women, young and old, 
rush from the death-chamber out into the court-yard, 
utternig piercing cries and lamentations. Some, with 
their hands clasped over their heads, weep, howl, and 
stamp their feet ; others run from side to side, stop sud- 
denly, clasp their hands on their heads, and begin again 
to jump frantically — in a word, manifest the most violent 
despair. The neighbors run to learn the cause of all this 
tumult, and the racket is then only increased, the clam- 
ors redoubled. The women wall not be consoled ; they 
wish to die ; some fling themselves on the ground, others 
seem to wish to break their heads against the wall. The 
neighbors restrain them and do their best to console them, 
but in vain. The children, bewildered by all these per- 
formances which they do not comprehend, begin to cry 
on the backs of the negresses who rush about in every 
direction as if crazy. 

After this first tempest there comes a moment of cahn. 
They tell the neighbors how the deceased died ; that they 



92 Fetichism. 

never supposed tne end was so near, and they did every- 
thing- to ward off so great a misfortune, etc. 

They then go to notify the relatives, w^ho hasten to 
return with the neighbors, and the scene just described is 
repeated : renewed tumult and groaning, fresh floods of 
tears, new clamors. The relatives end by consoling 
them all, make the women retire to a room where they 
can rest, weep at their leisure over the dead, and take care 
of their children. 

The eldest son consults wdth the women about the 
funeral and the solemnit}^ the}' wdsh to give it. He sends 
for a priest of If a, a babalawo, who, having immolated 
pigeons and hens, consults his fetich to know ii there is 
any need to appease the gods to keep off the evil spirits 
and other dangers which might menace the deceased or 
his family. If Ifa replies in the affirmative, the fetich- 
priest offers in sacrifice a goat, of which he opens the 
stomach, sprinkles it with palm-oil, places it all in a basket 
or in a broken vase, and has it deposited outside the city, 
at a place where three roads cross each other, so that the 
evil genii and other imps can take whichever road suits 
them in their flight. 

The babalawo then makes the lustral water in an earth- 
en pot with the slime of large snails ; he sprinkles the 
death-chamber and the assistants, using for this purpose 
a fetich palm-branch, and prays the deceased to depart 
gently and quietly, saying at the same time, " May God 
show thee the good road ; mayest thou meet nothing evil 
in thy way ;" and other prayers. 

While some of the relatives are having the hens, snails, 
and other food cooked, the others begin the toilet of the 
deceased. He is bathed from head to foot with a decoc- 
tion of aromatic plants, and then with brandy if the 
deceased is rich enough to afford it. His hair is shaved 
off and tied up in a white cloth and buried behind the 
house. He is dressed in a ckokoto, a kind of drawers 
which the blacks wear as trousers ; the head is covered 



Fetichism. 93 

with a cap ; the hands are laid on the breast ; the thumbs 
are tied together, as well as the great toes ; then he is 
decked with necklaces, bracelets, and rings. If it is a 
woman, she is painted with a reddish powder, made of 
dyed wood mixed with vegetable butter and other fra- 
grant substances. 

The body is then wrapped in a great many cloths ; 
each relative having brought one for this purpose, so that 
there are sometimes as many as forty. 

The body, which now forms a large bundle, is exposed 
on a funeral mat at the door of the death-chamber, where 
it must remain three days. The daughters or sisters of the 
deceased seat themselves on each side with fans to keep 
off the flies. 

During this time a grave is dug in the cabin-floor. It 
is a deep cut at the bottom of which is a subterranean 
gallery in the form of a cave, contrived in such a way 
that the head of the dead when buried is outside of 
the wall, under the veranda, and the feet inside of the 
cabin. A coffin is also made of rough planks of native 
wood. 

Meanwhile the living are not forgotten. A funeral is 
a great feast : they must above all drown their sorrow. So 
the evenings are spent in eating, drinking, dancing, and 
singing for the dead. Drums and iron instruments are 
beaten, and guns fired: this is the obligatory part of the 
ceremonial. Frequent visits to the gourds filled with 
palm-wine and rum keep up the enthusiasm. 

At the beginning of the feast, the widows and daugh- 
ters of the deceased are conducted to a room near by, 
where they are obliged to remain for three days. Their 
tears, cries, and shrieks mingle with the noise of the 
drums, songs, and the firing of guns. Finally the rela- 
tives, well fortified, go to console them and beg them to 
eat. They at first refuse: '* How can we eat when our 
dear one is no longer with us? No, we wish to die with 
him ; we care no longer for food." The relatives beg and 



94 Fetichism, 

implore them. They end by yielding-, and consent to 
take something- to sustain their miserable existence. At 
sight of gourds filled with viands sprinkled with palm-oil 
and strong spices their sadness is dispelled a little ; bot- 
tles of palm- wine and rum are also secretly supplied to 
them. The eldest son has every interest in gaining tbeir 
good graces, for, according to a degrading custom, at the 
death of the father the women are divided among the 
sons ; no one, however, is allowed to take his own 
mother. 

The night and two following days are spent in orgies 
with intervals of repose. Every day in the morning, at 
noon, and in the evening the lamentations of the women 
are heard soliciting the same consolations. The third 
day, after a plentiful repast, a band of negroes place upon 
their heads the bier on which the body rests, covered 
anew with a handsome cloth, and run with it through the 
city, while the others throw shells to the crowd follow- 
ing them and jostling one another to gather them up. 
The bearers skip, jump, and make a thousand extrava- 
gant contortions while singing the praises and celebrat- 
ing the wealth of the deceased. 

They return in the evening and proceed to bury him. 
The body is put in the coffin with shells, brandy, and other 
articles. They secretly take away the cloths, each rela- 
tive taking his own, Avhich he carefully hides. The coffin 
is lowered into the grave, covered with mats so that the 
earth may not touch it, and sprinkled with the blood of 
a he-goat which is immolated at the tomb as a sacrifice 
of expiation. The negroes then throw shells and hand- 
fuls of earth into the grave, and take leave of their dead, 
saying, *' Safe journey ! May God grant thee to arrive in 
peace ! Mayest thou not stray either to the right or left !" 
vying with one another as to who shall express the greatest 
number of good wishes. 

In some places they leave the head of the grave open, 
and afterward take away the head of the deceased, 



Fetichism, 95 

which they place in a fetich-cabin, where they make offer- 
ings to it. 

When the grave is entirely filled in, the orgies recom- 
mence and last all that night and the next morning. 
After having slept, in the middle of the day the band of 
negroes run again through the city as if seeking the 
dead. A choir sings, Baba wa Va nwa, awa a rii. (^* We 
seek our father and find him not.") The others answer, 
O re He; 6 re He re. (" He has gone to his house ; he has 
gone to his home.") 

The feast and racket continue until the evening of the 
next day. Then they collect the bones of the victims 
immolated and eaten and hang them on the wall over 
the grave. The more bones there are the more solemn 
is the funeral. A band of negroes armed with guns, and 
followed by other negroes, carry the mat, gourd, shells, 
brandy, and other treasures of the deceased, all of Avhich 
they shatter with shots and burn in a fetich-grove out- 
side the city, to signify to the dead that he must de- 
part forever, for there is no longer anj^thing for him in 
this world. 

During this time the young men kill a hen, the feathers 
of which they scatter as they go; they have it cooked 
and eat it on the roadside near the grove. This is what 
they call Adie-Irana (" the hen which buys the road "). It 
is supposed to precede the dead on his journey and show 
him the way. 

On his arrival at the gate of the other world, he pays 
to pass through, and thus happily reaches the country of 
the dead, which is called Or^tn r^re. 

During the funeral, the relatives, in token of mourning, 
neither bathe nor comb their hair. The last day they 
shave their heads and go to visit the relatives and friends 
who have come to console them ; then the mourning con- 
tinues for from three to twelve months, according to 
the localities, and consists with the blacks in leaving 
their woolly hair uncombed. 



g6 Fetichism. 

From time to time the blacks make libations and offer-, 
ings on the tomb, they offer sacrifices, and by means of 
this kind consult the dead on the most important occa- 
sions. 

Their faith in the immortality of the soul, and in the 
intercourse which the dead may have with the living, is 
evident from the ceremonies which I have just described ; 
and the stories they relate in the evening, seated on mats 
in the moonlight, enjoying the fresh air, also evince this 
belief. 

The following narrative proves the negro's belief in 
the influence of the dead : 

One day a woman deposited wnth another negress in 
the presence of witnesses a coral necklace. Then she 
went to get salt, a great way off, on the sea-shore, where 
the people on the coast prepare it by vaporizing the salt 
water, first in the sun, and then on the fire in earthen 
pots. The woman who received the necklace carefully hid 
it in a hole which she made in the wall of her cabin, and 
which she plastered over again in such a way that it was 
impossible to discover w^here the hole had been made. It 
happened that she died suddenly without being able to 
make known to her two sons the hiding-place. They 
having rendered the last honors to their mother, searched 
everywhere for the necklace, but could not find it. 

The negress returned from her journey and claimed 
her necklace. The two sons related to her the whole 
affair ; but she would not believe them, and accused them 
of theft before the king, who heard them and also re- 
fused to beheve their story. The youngest was put in 
prison, and the house was to be confiscated if in eleven 
days the necklace was not returned. 

The eldest son, not knowing what to do, addressed him- 
self to the grand priest of Ifa, begging him to assist him. 
Touched by the young man's grief, the fetich-priest con- 
sulted Ifa, who replied that he must go to the country of 
the dead and ask his mother where she had put the neck- 



Fetichism. 9 7 

lace. " Let the young man," said he, '■'■ offer this evening 
a black sheep to the dead near the sacred grove outside 
the walls ; let him bathe his eyes with lustral water and 
follow the first dead person he will see pass, and he 
will reach the road to the dead. By paying the passage- 
money the gate-keeper will let him enter. But let him 
take care not to touch the dead, for if he does he will 
never see again the land of the living. When he returns 
to the sacred grove, he will bathe his eyes again with 
lustral water and offer a victim to the gods who have 
allowed him to visit the country of the dead without 
dying." 

The young man accomplished all that had been pre- 
scribed, and happily reached the end of his journey. The 
first person he met was his mother. She was going deject- 
edly toward a fountain ; the other dead were seated here 
and there, or walked about silently. Seeing his mother, 
he cried : 

''lya!" (Mother.) 

She raised her head, recognized him, and came to meet 
him. 

"What! is it thou, my son? Why hast thou come 
down to the abode of the dead ?" 

" My brother is in irons, and our house is to be sold if 
our neighbor's necklace is not restored to her. The 
great Ifa has allowed me to come among the dead to ask 
you where you have put it." 

The mother told him where it was hidden. The young 
man having obtained what he had so earnestl}^ wished 
for, forgot the recommendation of Ifa, and was about to 
throw himself at his mother's feet; but she drew back. 

'' Do not touch me, my son, lest the road to the living 
be closed against thee forever. Return and deliver th}^ 
brother; offer to thy mother victims and make to her 
offerings, for in this place she has great need of them." 

She withdrew and disappeared. 

The young man returned, went to the sacred grove 



98 Fetichism, 

and offered to Ifa the promised victims. He found the 
necklace, and was feted throughout the city. He did not 
forget his mother. Every five days he replenished the 
water on her tomb, and from time to time presented her 
offerings and victims. 

The blacks believe that the land of the dead is very 
similar to this in which we live, but much sadder. The 
dead have in the next life the same position they had in 
this; those who were kings are so still, and those who 
were slaves remain slaves. They have the same pleas- 
ures, the same habits, the same needs. Hence it is con- 
sidered a duty, an act of filial piety, to offer them liba- 
tions and sacrifices. The kings, chiefs, and persons of 
wealth must be furnished with a retinue of women, and 
slaves to keep up the dignity of their position and secure 
them the comforts suitable to their rank. At great inter- 
vals messengers are sent to inform the dead of what is 
transpiring in this world, to interest them in the welfare 
of the countr}^, and to obtain their advice on important 
occasions. They become enraged with the living if they 
do not liberally satisfy their wants and desires, each one 
according to his resources and position. But they are 
on the contrary pleased when they immolate on their 
tombs the enemies with whom they formerly fought. 

These ideas and beliefs are the real cause of the human 
sacrifices which every year imbrue in blood these unfor- 
tunate countries of the blacks, as well as of the brigand- 
age and continual wars necessary to procure the victims. 
At the death of the kings and chiefs, victims are immo- 
lated beside the grave, and their blood gushes forth on the 
cofhn ; the women and slaves are massacred that they 
may accompany the dead, to serve them in the other 
world. From time to time they send them other women, 
new servants, and often even messengers to acquaint them 
with what takes place on the earth. 

One day the king of Dahomey had thus dispatched 
several couriers to his predecessors, when he remembered 







"ilih|i|;m. iiii.iH 



Fetichisni, i o i 

some insignificant detail of his commissions that had es- 
caped his mind. A poor old woman was passing, carry- 
ing on her head a pitcher of water. The king called her 
and gave her his message. The poor wretch, trembling 
all over, begged and implored for mercy. 

*' I have done nothing wrong," she said. 

" I know that," replied the king, '' but I am sending you 
to my father; go at once." 

Resistance was in vain. The poor creature knelt down, 
drank half a bottle of brandy, and the Mehu cut off her 
head. 

The women, slaves, and messengers who are sent to 
serve the dead are beheaded. But their enemies, especially 
the chiefs and fetich-priests whom they have conquered 
expire after insults and taunts, in the midst of frightful 
tortures ; then a barbarous scene takes place, too hideous 
and repulsive to describe. 

At Porto-Novo I have attended roval funerals which 
have lasted nine days and cost the lives of numerous vic- 
tims. One victim was skinned, and of the skin a drum was 
made to be used in the ceremony. In the market-place, 
around the bodies, the negroes drank brandy at will, 
danced and gave themselves up to all kinds of amuse- 
ments. 

Dahomey especially has acquired a sad notoriety, from 
the massacre of human victims which accompanies the an- 
nual feast, called " the feast of customs." Ever}' year the 
army of Dahomey takes to the field to secure among the 
neighboring tribes their supply of victims, and also of 
slaves which they sell to buy brandy, powder, and the 
things that they send to the dead, as well as the rewards 
which the king distributes to his soldiers and his people, 
for whom the occasion of the yearly sacrifices is a time of 
feasting and rejoicing. 

This system of annual brigandage has made a vast 
desert around Dahomey. The latest news from Guinea 
brings us tidings of the destruction of Ikctou, the only 



I02 Fetichism. 

important city that remained in the western part of the 
Nagos countries, formerly thickly populated, now only a 
desert abandoned to the wild beasts. 

This year the Dahomeans spread the report that they had 
been beaten by the Mahis. The Iketous, supposing their 
mortal enemies far away from them, thought only of en- 
joying themselves and took no precautions. Meanwhile, 
the Dahomeans, following their usual tactics, glided like 
serpents through the trees and underbrush of the forest 
creeping stealthily and silently until they reached the 
walls of the city, when each man w^ent to his post, and 
with gun in hand awaited the signal. 

The first cock-crow was the signal. Then the Da- 
homeans scaled the walls, even before the inhabitants, sur- 
prised in profound slumber, could recollect themselves. 
Those who tried to escape were seized and garroted; 
those w^ho attempted to resist were massacred on the 
spot ; men, women, and children were bound together in 
groups outside the city. 

The pillage was soon accomplished, for the blacks are 
not rich. The city was then set on fire, and the sick, the in- 
firm, and nursing children were thrown into the flames. 
The captives, chained together in long lines, were led to 
Abomey to be divided as slaves between the king, the 
chiefs, and the soldiers, except those who were put aside 
to serve as victims in sacrifices. 

This is merel}^ one instance of the bloody tragedies 
which are repeated every year. 



Fetichism, 103 



CONCLUSION. 

The study of this subject has shown us the deep re- 
Hgious sentiment of the blacks. On all important occa- 
sions in life the fetich intervenes. This idea the negro 
carries everywhere with him ; there is no such thing, then, 
as indifference in matters of religion. 

But how perverted is this religious sentiment which the 
negro has inherent in his nature in common with all men ! 
First the Divinity loses his principal attribute, goodness. 
Olorun is not mischievous, hence they do not trouble 
themselves about him. It is the evil genius Elegba who 
is never forgotten ; offerings are made to the other gods 
and demi-gods only to escape their vengeance. Fetichism 
is the worship of cruelty and also of vice. The most im- 
moral negro is as good as his fetich. 

A strange confusion of good and evil, an incoherent 
mixture of doctrines, fetichism presents the most clearly 
defined spiritualism and the most repugnant materialism : 
monotheism in Olorun, the supreme god ; polytheism in 
all the lesser gods ; the government of the world by a 
superior but wicked power ; the immortality of the soul ; 
future life, but without reward of virtue or punishment 
of vice, consequently no conscience ; respect for the dead, 
but a respect stained by the human sacrifices by which it 
is expressed. In a word, it is a complete perversion of re- 
ligion, which, instead of elevating man to God, serves only 
to debase him. 

Yet there is a lower and still more vile being than the 
black fetichist, and that is the fetichist turned Mussulman. 
To his former brutishness and superstitions he adds two 
new vices : fanaticism and pride, two great obstacles to 
Christianity. The pagan negro becomes converted and 



I04 



Feticktsm. 



confides his children to the missionaries ; the Mussulman 
negro is unapproachable. 

The rapid progress of Mahometanism in these countries 
alarms all the friends of Africa, all those who take an 
interest in these unfortunate people, and follow the march 
of events. 

What will save them from this new danger ? Coloniza- 
tion by white people is impossible because of the fevers 
and of the climate ; moreover, fetichism with its human 
sacrifices has not disappeared from the vicinity of the 
business houses established for so many centuries on the 
coast. It IS only in the circle where the influence of the 
Christian missions is felt that fetichism has lost credit, and 
this fact indicates to us the remedy of the evils of which 
Ave have only been able to give a faint idea. In Catholic 
evangelization and the charity of Christian nations rests 
the only hope of the salvation of the black fetichist. 



Appendix. 107 



REPORT OF REV. FATHER A. PLANQUE, SUPERIOR- 
GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF AFRICAN MISSIONS, 
AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1884. 

Early in the year 1856 a young bishop, Mgr. de Marion 
Bresillac, came to Rome, after twelve years' missionary 
labors in the East Indies. Desiring to devote the remain- 
der of his life to the conversion of the most abandoned 
tribes of Africa, he opened his apostohc heart to the emi- 
nent Prefect of the Propaganda, and proposed to go with 
several priests to establish a mission on the Slave Coast. 
Feeling that the European nations owed a great debt to 
these people, with whom they traded for so long a time 
for the benefit 01 their inter-tropical colonies, he wished to 
bestow upon them the true liberty of the Gospel His 
project was favorably received at Rome, but it was not 
thought possible that a bishop and a few priests could 
successfully undertake a mission of this kind. He was 
advised to form first a society of priests, which would be 
a preparatory seminary and a reserve corps. This was a 
great undertaking, but the voice of the Holy See is the 
voice of God. 

Mgr. de Marion Bresillac did not found a religious 
order, but simply a society of secular priests, bound by 
the general rules of the Holy See and by a communit}^ 
of interests. He established the centre at Lyons, under 
the title of Seminary of the African Missions, and on the 
8th of December, 1856, he consecrated to Our Lady of 
Fouviere the first-fruits of the Society. 

The foundation of a society is always difficult, but it 
becomes still more so wlien the enterprise must be under- 
taken in a distant country and there seems no tangible 
means of arriving at the desired results. The Bishop ex- 
perienced at first many disappointments without, how- 
ever, losing courage. 



io8 Appeiidix. 

The Propaganda prudently made inquiry as to now tne 

missionaries would be received in these countries of ter- 
rible repute. When informed that the missionaries would 
be murdered by these barbarous people as soon as they 
arrived, the Propaganda, not wishing to send them to 
certain death, created the Apostolic Vicarate of Sierra- 
Leone and confided it to ^Igr. de Clarion Bresillac, little 
thinking that this was sending him to a martyrdom less 
glorious, less desirable, and also less fruitful than that of 
blood. 

Mgr. de Bresillac sent out two priests in the month of 
December, 1858, and came himself to Freetown in Mav, 
1859, ^"^'ith another priest and a la3'-brother. He found 
the city a prey to a nameless epidemic — the most violent 
it had ever e:s:perienced. The captain of the vessel tried 
to dissuade them from landing, but no persuasion could 
deter them from going to their perilous post. The Bishop 
saw two of his priests and the lay-brother perish before his 
eyes, and when he and his Vicar-General were attacked 
bv the disease, they had already buried nearly all their 
Christians. Finally, within an interval of two days, they 
in their turn succumbed about the end of June. 

Mgr. de Clarion Bresillac's last thoughts were of his 
work, so cruellv stricken in its birth, and which, humanly 
speaking, seemed crushed at the very outset. But the 
founder and his four companions were not lost to the 
work ; they watched over it from heaven. 

The young scholastics in the Seminary of African Mis- 
sions remained firm in their vocation, and when Pius IX. 
learned of the death of Mgr. de Marion Bresillac, and 
that his children were resolved to continue what he had 
begun, he sent them his special blessing. The Propaganda 
in a letter to the Superior expressed its pleasure and ad- 
miration at seeing that, far from being discouraged by the 
trial they had experienced, the seminarists seemed inflamed 
with greater ardor. And having obtained more accurate 
information of the state of Dahomev. it resolved to accede 



Appendix. 109 

to the first request and constant desire of Mgr. de Marion 
Bresillac. The Slave Coast was consequently erected 
into an Apostolic Vicariate and confided to the Society of 
African Missions. 

God did not abandon those who put their trust in Him, 
and vocations were not wanting. On the 5th of January, 
1 861, three missionaries embarked for Dahomey. The 
state of this country may be briefly described. Satan 
reigns supreme over these unhappy people ; spiritual deg- 
radation has here reached its furthest limits; no idea of 
Divine truth exists among them ; the darkness or gross 
fetichism envelops the land. Serpents, the thunder, 
hideous animals and still more hideous idols are the gods 
they adore. The principal feature of their barbarous wor- 
ship is human sacrifice. The number of victims is unlimit- 
ed, and they are immolated with revolting cruelty. Blood 
must sprinkle everything ; trophies of death decorate 
every place ; nothing -of importance takes place without 
the shedding of blood. Every day the earth must be 
watered by the blood of some victim. 

In the midst of this depravity God had prepared a way 
for the introduction of Christianity. The old French and 
Portuguese settlements along the coast had left some rem- 
nants of Christianity, and among the thousands of negroes 
which the slave trade had transported to other countries 
some had returned, principally from Brazil, where they 
had been baptized. If they did not bring back with them 
much knowledge, they had at least a great love and esteem 
for Christianity. Several generations of slaves, in return- 
ing to their homes, thus sowed the good seed. More- 
over, the natives of these countries consider our religion 
superior to theirs, and the God of the white man much 
greater than their fetiches. The aged and men of mature 
years content themselves with this speculative esteem, for 
it is difficult at that age to divest themselves of material- 
ism. But they willingly confide their children to the mis- 
sionaries, and these children become excellent Christians. 



no Appendix. 

It is not my intention to give a detailed account of the 
twenty-two years' apostolic labors of the African mission- 
aries, in the early part of which the)^ experienced many 
sad trials. Much good was effected, but the fevers and 
other maladies peculiar to this trying climate soon deci- 
mated the ranks of these zealous laborers. It took years 
to acquire the experience necessary to resist the severity 
of the climate. But the greatest difficulties were gradu- 
ally lessened. The grain of mustard-seed has not yet be- 
come a great tree, but it has put forth promising branches, 
which I will briefl}' describe. 

Until within a few years the Society of African Missions 
had but one station. Now the Holy See has entrusted to 
their charge four Apostolic Prefectures, which include 
the Coast of Benin, Dahomey ; the Slave Coast ; the 
Ivor}' Coast ; and part of the Egyptian Delta. 



Apostolic Vicariate of the Coast of Benin. 

This Apostolic Vicariate was for a long time the onl}^ 
mission we had. The great results effected here show how 
much greater fruits might be reaped if we had the means 
necessary to send a larger number of missionaries to found 
new stations. Nine hundred and forty children now at- 
tend our schools, and these schools are the true centre of 
our Apostolate. All the children under our care become 
Christians, and form a nucleus which increases daily. 
They marrv in accordance with the law of God and the 
Church, and even the old polygamists praise and admire 
this young generation who re-establish the unity of the 
family. 

Lagos, the centre of the English colonies, is a city of no 
less than fifty thousand inhabitants, has an extensive com- 
merce, and is often called the Liverpool of Africa. Our 
Gothic church is its finest ornament. All contributed to 
its erection ; the government by a grant of land and the 



Appendix. 1 1 1 

work of its people, the European commercial houses by 
liberal subscriptions, and the laborers by gratuitous work 
in their different trades. We have a school at Lagos for 
boys and one for girls, besides a higher school for the 
training of teachers. This training-school will become a 
nursery of most useful auxiliaries to the missionaries, by 
furnishing them with the staff necessary to the founding 
of new Catholic schools in the cities where missions are 
already established, as well as in the neighboring towns. 
There is very little idea in civilized countries of the den- 
sity of the populations on the coasts of Guinea. The 
cities and large towns teem with inhabitants, among whom 
a line of schools might be advantageously established 
within certain distances. Heretofore we have not been 
able to accomplish this for want of the necessary teachers. 
Our high-school at Lagos now begins to obviate this dif- 
ficulty, by placing at our disposal catechists and instruc- 
tors for the schools. These teachers marry the young 
Christian girls educated by the Sisters, and the schools 
are under the supervision of a missionary who frequently 
visits them. Tn 1883 the first establishment of this kind 
was opened. It was followed by many others as soon as 
we could defray the first expenses of installation. Thus 
with a comparatively small number of missionaries we 
have been able to reach in our ministrations great num- 
bers of the population. There are at present four other 
schools in prospect. In the most important centres we 
establish schools for girls and resident missionaries, and 
we rely on these central schools to establish a series of 
schools. It is not the work of a day, but the missionary 
is accustomed to be patient. He comes not to this land 
as an explorer, but to dwell in this new country of his 
adoption and to disseminate the great Christian principles 
which elevate the people. 

The high-school at Porto-Novo will have still further 
influence by furnishing the colonies with honest and in 
telligent employes. Already the children from our cle 



112 Appendix, 

mentary schools are sought for, and preferred to all others 
for ordinary service, because of their honesty. The gov- 
ernment officials and the commercial houses ask us for 
young Catholics. This is a precious testimony to the 
efforts of the missionaries. 

In our village schools, while imparting solid Christian 
instruction, we endeavor to instil in our pupils a love of 
cultivating the soil and of everything that pertains to agri* 
culture. 

Porto-Novo, the capital of a small kingdom of the same 
name, has a population of some thirty or forty thousand 
inhabitants. The people are principally fetich-worship- 
pers, but Mahometanism already numbers many adherents. 
The missionaries have always exercised a great influence 
here, yet fear of the fetich-priests and the rivalry of 
various sects retarded for a long time the progress of our 
schools. They have now developed to such an extent 
that our accommodations are totally insufficient for the 
numbers of children who present themselves. 

Aggera and Aguegue, villages of several thousand in- 
habitants, have for a long time desired schools, and we 
hope soon to be able to satisfy them. 

Porto-Novo has a beautiful church which is a marvel 
for this country. It was blessed in 1878. The king, Tofa, 
assisted at the ceremony with great pomp, and through 
respect for the great God of the white man dispensed 
with the usual ceremonial which requires the attendance 
of a certain number of his wives to fan him, carry his 
parasol over his head, etc. The conduct of the king on 
this occasion raised the missionaries very much in the 
opinion of his black subjects. They all said, " The God 
of the white man is much greater than ours, and His 
priests are superior to our fetich-priests." On Sundays, 
while the Christians are in the church, the pagans, fearing 
through respect to enter, crowd around the doors and 
windows, silent and recollected during the Mass. On 
feast-days and during the Novena for the Immaculate 



Appendix. 113 

Conception crowds surround the entrances to the church 
and join in the joy of the Christians. 

The King of Porto-Novo has just placed himself under 
the protection of France ; his kingdom is one of the most 
fertile and the best situated in Guinea, and is the principal 
commercial port for the exportation of palm-oil. France 
may acquire a great influence here without sending an 
army or without enormous expenditure. A few patriotic 
Christians residing near the King Tofa would give an in- 
fluence to the French protection incomparable to anything 
on the coasts. 

The Catholic missionaries take no part in the politics oi 
the country ; they are interested only in the Christian civi- 
lization of the people. 

I wish before making any further statements to do full 
justice to our neighbors, who are ever ready wherever 
they find the missionaries to aid and assist them. 

St. Joseph's, at Tokpo, is an experimental farm which 
has the double object of furnishing resources to the Mis- 
sion and of gradually forming at a distance from the cor- 
rupting influence of the large cities a Christian village 
devoted to agriculture. The government at Lagos has 
ceded to us a tongue of land near Badagry, between the 
lagoon and the sea ; it is fourteen kilometres long and 
about twelve hundred metres wide. It comprises 
meadows and forest of divers fragrant shrubs with thick 
underbrush. We have tried the cultivation of vari- 
ous crops, principally cocoa-trees. The first seeds sown 
suffered much from the rabbits and vsquirrels. Ounces, 
panthers, leopards, wild-boars, porcupines, monkeys, boas, 
and serpents of all kinds made merciless war on our flocks 
as well as our crops. But the gradual clearing awa}^ of 
the bushes in which they lived has driven them further 
and further away and finally banished them so far that 
with a little vigilance we have nothing more to fear from 
their ravages. 

Some of the trees have already borne fruit, and the 



114 Appendix. 

cows, goats, and sheep of the flocks have rapidly in- 
creased to the great delight and encouragement of our 
laborers. 

The farm is worked by two missionaries, a few orphan 
children, and a few that we have redeemed from slavery, 
who are learning to cultivate the soil and are at the same 
time taught the truths of Christianity. 

When the land is sufflciently cleared, we intend to settle 
on it several reliable Christian families who will work the 
farm under our direction, and form a village which we 
hope will serve as a model for many others. 

Abeokouta. 

A canoe-journey of five or six days up the Ugun brings 
us to the city of Abeokouta, which is surrounded by a 
high wall about thirty-five miles in circumference. This 
city was built by the numerous tribes of Egbas of Yorouba, 
who, to escape the incursions of the King of Dahomey, 
established themselves hei^e under the shelter of massive 
rocks. The city is divided in seven quarters, each of 
which has its respective king, but there is but one chief of 
war. It w^as through the instrumentality of this chief 
that Divine Providence established here our mission. 

For a long time the evangelization of Abeokouta was 
the object of our missionaries' greatest desires. Two 
priests went there in 1880. Their reputation as men of 
God had preceded them. Several Christians who went 
from Lagos to live in this great city had often spoken of 
them ; even some of the natives of Abeokouta, who had 
been in Lagos on business, had observed the good done 
there by the priests. Consequently they were very favor- 
ably received by the chief of war, Ogudipe, who being an 
intelligent, sensible man, and knowing the missionaries, ap- 
preciated what a boon their presence would be to the city 
of Abeokouta. He procured for them from one of the 
kings of the country two grants of land : one for them- 



Appendix, 1 1 5 

selves, and the other for the white women who never 
marry and who come from cold countries to teach the 
children. They thus designate the Sisters of the Society. 

Ogudipe smoothed away all obstacles, and two mission- 
aries with a catechist were able to install themselves in 
the great city, where they have built a small house and a 
school. But here are only two white missionaries to 
minister to one hundred and fifty thousand blacks, for 
Abeokouta contains this number of inhabitants at least, as 
nearly as can be ascertained in a country that has no sta- 
tistics. They already have quite a numerous flock, among 
whom may be seen several influential men. A house for 
the Sisters is being built, and a large church is very neces- 
sary here. Thus is the very heart of the vast continent of 
Africa open to us. The friendly relations existing between 
these tribes and all Yorouba wall give us in the near future 
the key to this immense country. Why may we not go 
very gradually on to this* most desirable end? 

We have commenced ver}^ cautiously the w^ork of buy- 
ing the slaves, particularly the children which we buy in 
the markets ; we collect them on the large farms and ac- 
custom them to regular work while giving them instruc- 
tion suitable to their position. In a few years these little 
slaves form free families, free with the true liberty of the 
children of God. The missionaries have to work slowly 
because they have only the offerings of the Society of the 
Propagation of the Faith to aid them instead of millions 
from the States or from humane societies. I have often 
been asked why Catholics and the real friends of civiliza- 
tion do not form a vast association for the special purpose 
of developing Christian influence, by establishing large 
agricultural colonies under the direction of the mission- 
aries. This is an idea to which competent men could 
easily, give a practical form, and I am convinced that in 
every instance the funds employed in this wx^ would be 
returned to the association with interest after having aided 
in the regeneration of entire provinces. 



1 1 6 Appendix. 

North of Abeokouta the roads are always blockaded, 
and no one is allowed to pass, for the country is in a 
chronic state of war. Nearly all the men are under arms, 
and the tribes are dying of hunger notwithstanding the 
fertility of the soil. Not that they are killed in battle ; 
but for years they have had to preserve an attitude of 
defence, always fearing an attack, and all this time the 
land has been left uncultivated. A chief said one day to 
one of our missionaries, " I will send you an ambassador, 
that you may tell him how to obtain the intervention of 
France to establish peace between the tribes, for we have 
been at war for years, and misery is at its height among 
us." 

At the beginning of this year, Ogudipe succeeded in 
opening this northern route to two missionaries ; he pro- 
vided them with a guide, and they visited Yorouba. A 
great field is, I assure you, open to us here. There are 
cities as large as Abeokouta ; and others smaller, but as 
thickly populated. Everywhere the population is dense 
and very accessible. The king of this country is power- 
ful. He asks for missionaries. He sent an ambassador 
to Lagos to see how we are installed. The ambassador 
returned filled with admiration for all he had seen. In a 
few weeks three missionaries are going to fulfil the desire 
of the King of Oyo. One of the motives which impels 
the king to ask for the missionaries is to prevent Mahom- 
etanism from invading his people ; it overruns and im- 
plants itself everywhere. " Men of God, come to our 
aid," cries the king. 

Is it not a special dispensation of Divine Providence 
that this fetich-worshipping king should voluntarily call 
Catholic priests to resist Mussulman proselytism ? This 
part of Africa no longer belongs to Mahomet, although 
he has already numerous disciples among its inhabitants. 
Islamism gradually spreads itself by successive encroach- 
ments. The Mussulmans are at first very benign, but as 
soon as they feel their numbers sufficient they impose 



1 



Appendix, 117 

their rule, and if necessary kill or sell as slaves those who 
resist, or at least force the natives to give up their lands 
and emigrate to other parts of the country, where they 
soon follow them and the same scenes are repeated. It 
is well known that the Mussulman rule is a combination 
of all the brutalizing influences of centuries. If, then, we 
love these poor blacks, who are our brothers, let us not 
lose time in coming to their aid. While they are fetich- 
ists, they are accessible and even desirous to receive 
Christian instruction. Let us then use every effort to bring 
to them that Christian civilization which we have always 
enjoyed, that liberty of the children of God which alone 
will make them perfect men. 



Apostolic Prefecture of Dahomey. 

The countries of which I have just spoken more than 
suffice to occupy all th6 energy of the chief of the mis- 
sions. Moreover to the West is a region of country no 
less interesting and very thickly populated, but com- 
munication is very difficult, the language being different, 
and very urgent is the need of a missionary centre on this 
coast. Pope Leo XIIL, by a brief of the 24th of June 1883, 
separated this portion of the territory from the Apos- 
tolic Vicariate of Benin, and made it the Apostolic Vica- 
riate of Dahomey. This Prefecture extends along the 
coast from the Volta to the Okpara, and in the interior 
has no limits. 

The only missions now in existence here are the station 
at Agoue and the school at Whyda. 

Agoue is an agglomeration of some 8000 souls, governed, 
like all the neighboring towns, by a Cabcccre of the King 
of Dahomey. Our establishment here dates from 1874. 
The missionaries have had to struggle against the pro- 
found ignorance and the disorders of some of the former 
slaves who returned from Brazil, and who adore nearly 



1 1 8 Appendix. 

all the fetiches, while professing to be Christians. The 
missionaries, acting as schoolmasters, gradually effected 
a very sensible amelioration. A school for girls is estab- 
lished which gives us a sure element of regeneration for 
family life. Their congregation numbers nearly a thou- 
sand Christians, and no one even among the pagans seems 
to avoid them. The chief of war and the neighboring 
chiefs entrust their children to us to be educated. Two 
small pharmacies, one kept by the missionaries, the other 
by the Sisters, are fully appreciated by the blacks and 
give us an important influence among them. 

The school at Whyda is kept by a catechist and his 
wife. The missionaries will soon establish themselves in 
this vicinity. 

Four other schools are about to be established either at 
Popos or at Dahomey. 

The interior is little known, but contains no doubt much 
that is interesting. We know, however, that there are 
there very populous cities. Salaga and Abomey have 
been visited by Europeans. The first contains more than 
40,000 inhabitants, and is the centre of extensive commerce 
with Soudan. Abomey, the capital of the kingdom of 
Dahomey, has 30,000. Dancbe, and other cities nearer the 
coast are also of importance. Atakpame, which the blacks 
represent to us as having more than 30,000 inhabitants, 
seems to border upon the immense territory of the Man- 
his : this is one of the points which our missionaries have 
in view. These countries seem to have reached a time of 
transformation. Far beyond the limits where the direct 
influence of the missionaries and commercial relations have 
been exercised, a change is being produced in the minds 
of the people, of which the blacks themselves have often 
spoken. The gross superstitions of fetichism are fast 
faUing into discredit, and the time is not far distant when 
Christianity will embrace all in this country who are not 
Mussulman. 



Appendix. 119 



Apostolic Prefecture of the Gold Coast and of the Ivory Coast. 

There have been commercial houses on the Gold Coast 
for centuries, but there has never been till now a single 
Cathohc missionary. The country is much more populous 
than Benin, but there was no trace of Catholicism to 
be found there. We established our first station at 
Elmina, a town of 15,000 or 18,000 souls. We could only 
begin with schools. That for boys already numbers 
nearly 2000 pupils. The girls' school was only established 
last March. The principal people with whom we have to 
deal in Elmina are the Fanti and the Achanti, among 
whom fetichism still reigns. We would have estab- 
lished ourselves this year in the capital of Achanti, but 
for the political revolution which deposed the king in 
1882, at the time when our missionaries visited the capital. 
We have no reason to fear any opposition on the part of 
the new sovereign, but we prefer to wait till the city is in 
a more settled state before establishing ourselves there. 

We have laid the foundation, of another station at Axim, 
which will serve as an entering wedge to Vassaw and 
Apollonia. 

We have only been two years and a half in charge of 
the Gold Coast. No idea can be had of the difficulties 
experienced by the missionaries at the outset, when 
establishing missions and schools with such very limited 
means. 

The Ivory Coast, which forms part of this same mission, 
has not yet a single missionary. This coast is little fre- 
quented, but what we have learned of it excites ver}^ 
great interest. At various points merchants ship the 
Kroumans, who go in companies to work in the European 
factories. Merchants prefer them to all other blacks. 
The Kroumans are, in fact, industrious, diligent, and 
energetic. At home they devote themselves to agricul- 
ture, especially to the cultivation of rice. The greater 



I20 Appendix. 

part of them emigrate to different points on the coast 
just as soon as they have acquired a competency which 
will allow them to live quietly in their native country. 
Though they are much dreaded in war, they are a very 
peaceful people. Their religion is fetichism. 

A mission among the Kroumans would do much good 
to these simple people, who are much less vicious than 
the other negroes. They are called the Gauls of Africa, 



Apostolic Prefecture of the Niger. 

A decree of the Propaganda, dated the 2d of May of this 
year (1884), has added to the territorj' already under our 
care that part of the interior of Africa which lies between 
the Niger and the Benou. Two of our missionaries 
explored this country in 1883. The cities and towns are 
numerous and populous. Fetichism is the prevailing 
rehgion, but Mahometanism has already many adherents. 
In many places the inhabitants resist the invasion of the 
Mussulman. Our two explorers were well received by 
the kings and chiefs. Nearly everywhere a more or less 
exact report of the missionaries had preceded them, but 
their reputation was always that of men of God who do 
good and teach a good doctrine. 

The French and English companies who have factories 
on the banks of the Niger and the Benou promise us the 
co-operation of their agents to assist us in establishing 
ourselves. I do not know the character of these people, 
but the general idea we have of them leads us to hope 
that the labors of the missionaries among them will not be 
without rich results. Unfortunately, the few missionaries 
we are now able to scatter over such an immense space 
may not be able to effect such results as we would wish. 
Nevertheless, we must undertake the work courageously, 
leaving to God to fructify the little grain of mustard-seed 
sown by our efforts, and perhaps some day numerous 



Appendix. 121 

birds of the air will dwell in the wide-spreading branches 
thereof. 

Egypt. 

Since the Crusades, Eg3^pt has never been without mis- 
sionaries. For a long time they were obliged to confine 
themselves to guarding the ancient sanctuaries and sus- 
taining the faith in the souls of the faithful who surrounded 
them, w^hich they often did at the price of their lives. It 
would take long to enumerate the martyrology of the 
children of St. Francis who in this glorious cause remained 
faithful unto death. 

But even in this century Egypt has undergone many 
social transformations. Europe has exercised a salutary 
influence by her steady commercial relations. The cities 
on the coast, and Cairo itself, have important European 
colonies. The Christian Brothers and the Sisters of 
Charity are established here, and their schools contain 
large numbers of pupils. Nevertheless, those who know 
this country cannot but be deeply impressed with the 
great need it has of more missionaries. There are Fran- 
ciscans in the cities on the coast, at Cairo, and in two other 
cities. But the Delta, with its population of Fellahin, so 
down-trodden, so overworked, and often so sadly oppressed 
by the extortions of pitiless masters, is entirely without 
Christian influence. The Holy See has authorized us to 
found stations among the Fellahin, and we cannot refuse to 
come to the aid of these thousands of unfortunate human 
beings. Moreover, His Holiness Leo XIII. has just erected 
this mission to an Apostolic Prefecture. We have opened 
schools for boys at Zagazig and at Tantah, but, having 
only the small offerings of the Society of the Propagation 
of the Faith with which to meet the expenses of rent and 
building, we have had to work slowly, and we have not 
been able to enlarge the schools. 

The establishing of free schools will give us the greatest 



12 2 Appendix. 

and most unbounded influence in this country. Missionary 
labor in Egypt, just as among the pagans of Guinea, will 
have to be a work of patience and slow results. It is not 
the schools alone which are of immediate importance. It 
is little more than a year since we opened at Tantah a free 
dispensary for the sick. Sufferers of every kind crowd 
around the doors. There are only two Sisters to serve 
them, very few remedies, and often no linen to bind 
up their wounds. Even before the doors are open in the 
morning the people are waiting outside. The Sisters are 
obliged to close the doors in order to have time to take 
their meals, and even then the poor sufferers clamor at the 
windows. Two Sisters are utterly insufficient for this 
work, and those who have at heart the regeneration and 
salvation of these Fellahin, so worthy of interest, would 
do a good work by turning their attention to the city of 
Tantah, the most important in Egypt after Cairo and 
Alexandria. It is not a half-European city, but is composed 
entirely of Fellahin. It contains the tomb of the Marabut, 
called Said Ahmed of Bedaoin, the most venerated by Ma- 
hometans after that of Mahomet. The three great annual 
fairs attract here thousands of Arabs, among whom there 
are many maladies to be cured. A dispensary large enough 
and with sufficient means to admit of their being cared 
for in great numbers would exercise a most salutary in- 
fluence and bring many blessings to the benefactors. 

At Zagazig also we have opened a small dispensary. 
The people crowd here in such numbers that it is impos- 
sible to pass through the street, and the missionaries are 
obliged to have a strong negro to keep order, at least 
around the Sisters while they are dressing wounds. Each 
one cries out his malady and begs for a remedy. What 
a field is here open amidst all these human miseries for a 
skilful, zealous physician! Unfortunately, the missionaries 
have not the means to employ a physician, nor even to 
furnish anything like a complete pharmacy, or to build 
the hospital which is so indispensable. They do what 



t 
I 













^w V w 






Appendix, 125 

they can, trusting to God to give to their simple remedies 
that perfect efficacy which will dispose the hearts of these 
poor people to receive their teachings. 

The Fellahin are essentially agriculturists. We must 
follow them to their native plains, where they are most 
accessible, and bring to them the civilizing influence of the 
Christian faith. They hire themselves with their families 
as laborers. We must become farmers so as to employ 
these Fellahin and teach them to gain an honest livehhood. 
This is a project that we have long contemplated, and 
which I trust we are now about to realize. The great 
difficulty is to collect the funds necessary to purchase the 
land and make the first instalm-ent. We would be at no 
expense for the Fellahin ; they lodge themselves in their 
own inexpensive way. 

To these agricultural colonies we intend to add agricul- 
tural schools, industrial schools, and orphanages. 

The orphanages are always too small, so great is the 
number of vagrant children. The Egyptian Government 
is always very willing to surrender them to our care. 

The industrial school is not for our pupils alone. The 
Christian Brothers have often urged us to establish this 
school for the benefit of their pupils also ; for if the pupils 
on leaving their free schools are apprenticed to Mussul- 
mans, Jews, Greeks, or freethinkers, these masters trouble 
themselves very little about the morals of their apprenti- 
ces unless to destro}^ them, which is often the case. 

The agricultural school is a practical speculation. The 
chiefs of the villages willingly send their children to learn 
a process of cultivation which Avill make their rich lands 
capable of much more abundant harvests. We do not 
wish to effect a great transformation by supplanting man- 
ual labor by machinery, but only to render labor more 
fruitful by making it more intelligent. 

We also teach these poor Fellahin how to secure for 
themselves an honest division of their crops without hav- 
ing recourse to the usurers established in all the villages, 



120 



Appendix. 



who make them pay a commission of fifty or sixty per cent, 
and sometimes even more. They pledge their crops for 
one or two years, leaving nothing for themselves. The 
poor Fellahin works on from year to year, the usurer tak- 
ing every season the fruits of his labor, and the Fellahin 
continues to contract new debts and new obligations. 

We do not deem it unworth}- of the missionaries to pro- 
cure for God's oppressed creatures that alleviation which, 
though only temporal, makes them understand that the 
missionaries are their friends. They listen willingly to 
those whom they know to be friendly ; and although we 
do not expect to make any immediate conversions, we 
have every reason to hope that our efforts will bring these 
poor people, so long subject to the yoke of Mahomet, 
nearer to God, and that their children, enlightened by 
Divine Grace, will flock in crowds to the fold of the Divine 
Shepherd. 

This, my friends, is a brief sketch of the effects of 
Catholic charity in that part of the Lord's vineyard which 
has been entrusted to the care of our Society. The re- 
sults have been obtained at the price of great sacrifices. 
We must now make these results permanent and extend 
them. Pray, my friends, that the Master of the harvest 
may send many laborers, and that generous souls may be 
inspired to furnish them with the material resources neces- 
sary for the work. 



127 

SPIRITUAL PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO THE ASSOCIATES 
OF THE AFRICAN MISSIONS. 

PLENARY INDULGENCES. 
I St. On the day of reception. 
2d, On the Feast of the Crown of Thorns. 
3d. On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. 
4th. At the hour of death, on invoking the Holy Name 
of Jesus. 

An indulgence of sixty days each time an Associate 
performs a good work for the success of the African Mis- 
sions. Exequatur, 

^ Card. J. J. M. De Bonald, 

A rchbishop of Lyo7is. 



CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION TO THE ASSOCIATION OF 
THE AFRICAN MISSIONS. 

1st. Those are Affiliated who give $1 00 

2d. Those are Protectors who give annually 125 00 

3d. Those are Founders who give 3,ooo 00 

This last amount forms a fund for the perpetual main- 
tenance of a missionary in the Society. 

I. A Mass will be offered at a privileged altar every 
Friday of the year by the Superior-General of the Society 
for the Associates. 

XL Twenty Masses will be annually offered for each 
Protector. 

III. An annuel of 365 Masses will be offered for each 
Founder. 

Offerings will be received bv Rev. Fathers Merlini and 
Connaughton, who have charge of the collection at the 
House of the Immaculate Virgin, care of Rev. Father 
Drumgoole, Lafayette Place, New York City, P. O. Box, 
3SI2. 

Offerings may also be sent to the Superior-General of 
the Society of African Missions, Cours Gambetta 174, 
Lyons, France. 



Approbatio7is, 



APPROBATIONS OF THE MOST REV. AND RIGHT REV 
PRELATES OF AMERICA. 

The Rev. Fathers Desribes and Merlini, of the Societj- oi 
African Missions, having been duly authorized by his Emi 
nence, the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda to come 
to this country for the purpose of collecting funds to assist 
them in sustaining and extending the highly important 
and meritorious work which has been confided to them 
are hereby permitted to solicit contributions from th^ 
faithful of this diocese, to whose charity they are com 
mended. 

New York, January 7, 18S1, 

^ John Card. INIcCloskey, 

Archbishop of New York. 

The Fathers Desribes and Merlini have permission to 
apply to the reverend clergy of the diocese for assistance 
in their collection among the faithful for their missions ol 
Africa. 

Boston, Feb. 22d, 1881. ^ J. J. WiLLIAMS, 

A rchbishop of Boston. 

The Rev. Fathers Merlini and Gailen have permission 
to sohcit aid in the archdiocese of Chicago in behalf of 
their African missions, with the consent of the reverend 
clergy. 

Chicago, May 31, 1881. •}<?. A. FeEHAN, 

Archbishop of Chicago. 

Some time after the coming spring, Father Merlini 
Apostolic Missionary, may make an appeal to any church 
of the diocese, to which he will be invited by the pastors 
in charge. 

Baltimore, December, 1884. ^ JaMES GiBBONS. 

Archbishop of Baltimore. 



Appr obations, 

I recommend the appeal of the Reverend Fathers of the 
African missions to the Catholics of St. Louis. 

Baltimore, November 28, 1884. 

»J* Peter Richard Kenrick, 

Archbishop of St. Louis. 

I authorize the Fathers of the African missions to coL 
lect in the diocese of Cincinnati, with the consent of the 
reverend pastors, and I warmly recommend this work of 
chanty. 

Baltimore, November 28, 1884. 

»Ji William Henry Elder, 

Archbishop of Cincinnati. 

The following Bishops have granted the same permis- 
sion : 

4* Right Rev. Francis McNeirny, Bishop of Albany. 
4* Right Rev. P. T. O'Reilly, Bishop of Springfield. 
»|< Right Rev. T. F. Hendricken, Bishop of Providence. 
4« Right Rev. J. A. Healy, Bishop of Portland. 
4* Right Rev. D. M. Bradley, Bishop of Manchester. 
^ Right Rev. M. J. O'Farrell, Bishop of Trenton. 
►J« Right Rev. F. S. Chatard, Bishop of Vincennes. 
►J* Right Rev. J. O'Connor, Vicar Apostolic of Nebraska. 
*J* Right Rev. J. A. Watterson, Bishop of Columbus. 
4* Right Rev. J. Ireland, Bishop of St. Paul. 
*I* Right Rev. J. Hennessy, Bishop of Dubuque. 
^ Right Rev. W. M. Wigger, Bishop of Newark. 
4* Right Rev. John Loughlin, Bishop of Brooklyn. 
oJ« Right Rev. John Lancaster Spalding, Bishop of Peoria. 



3 



lul^ 



u 



